On 3/4/2014 1:27 PM, H. S. Teoh wrote:
On Tue, Mar 04, 2014 at 06:19:38PM +0000, Chris wrote:
Btw, the quote you have in this post:
Never ascribe to malice that which is adequately explained by
incompetence. -- Napoleon Bonaparte
I'm surprised that Napoleon would say something like this. Malice is
often a characteristic of the incompetent. The only way to get the
better of their betters. :-)
I'm not sure if that attribution is accurate. Nick has pointed out to me
that he knows the same quote attributed to someone else, so this may be
a case of internet misattribution (I picked up that quote from somewhere
online, way back when -- no idea if the source was reliable, y'know,
being the internet and everything).
Hanlon's Razor, a tongue-in-cheek "corollary" (of sorts) to Occam's
Razor. I'm a huge believer in Hanlon's Razor, BTW, as well as Occam's
Razor which I see as an axiom (for a loose definition of "axiom") that's
fundamental in making all of science actually work and separating
science from folklore.
For all I know, Napoleon may have uttered Hanlon's Razor at some point.
I'm sure he's said a lot of things :) If so, he may have been the first.
