Hanlon's Razor states:

Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.
That's cute, but aren't we all just a little quick to assume either explanation? Nobody trusts anybody else's judgment any more. I propose Scott's Razor:
Never attribute to malice or stupidity that which might be explained by a perfectly good reason that you aren't aware of.


Six Replies to Scott's Razor

Jackie Mason | October 6, 2009
[hidden by author request]

Tony Peters | October 6, 2009
I've seen way too much stupidity (even my own) not to assume stupidity most of the time

Steve West | October 6, 2009
My personal hero, Shakespeare, sums it up so well with the oft-quoted, "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy." Things are rarely just black or white and mutually exclusive.

Steve Dunn | October 7, 2009
OK wow, I thought TC had been slow for a long time and now I see everyone's hanging out in this green part of the site.

Scott Hardie | October 7, 2009
TC is for talking about things other than Rock Block and the goo game?

Aaron Shurtleff | October 7, 2009
Wait, there's things other than Rock Block and Goo Game??


Logical Operator

The creator of Funeratic, Scott Hardie, blogs about running this site, losing weight, and other passions including his wife Kelly, his friends, movies, gaming, and Florida. Read more »

Blog Entry Post

Pet peeve: Why do people redundantly call it "tuna fish?" You never hear "parrot bird" or "Cocker spaniel dog." Go »

OK Glass

Last weekend, Kelly and I drove up to St. Petersburg with friends to see Ira Glass present a one-man stage show explaining how he makes This American Life on the radio. I had no prior familiarity with his work, having not heard the radio show unlike the fans that I went with, but I think it's long past time that I started listening to the celebrated series online. Go »

Game Over

On paper, Game Over doesn't look promising: A vulgar, video-game-themed cartoon series on UPN that only lasted five episodes. But I rented it anyway, and somehow it managed to be entertaining and smarter than it needed to be, but maybe that was just the low expectations kicking in. I think the key to the show is that it actually respected its characters and cared for them as a family unit, instead of using them as empty vessels for punchlines (latter-year The SImpsons) or treating them with unmistakable contempt (Family Guy). Go »

Fossil

The soap says Cambria & Taylor. "Is that trilobite soap?" "What are you talking about?" Go »

This Blog Post Definitely Doesn't Conform to NPOV Standards

I once coined a rule that you couldn't read more than three complete articles on Wikipedia without running into a reference to some obscure joke from The Simpsons, Monty Python, or most commonly, Family Guy. Seriously: I just now clicked two links and landed at Anarcho-syndicalism of all things, and sure enough, there's Holy Grail in the "trivia" section. Should it be plural like that, since no one is ever going to enter another item of trivia? Go »

Bad for Business

CNN Money published an interesting look at the 101 Dumbest Moments in Business in the year 2006. Go »