Stupidity

I just heard a rule of thumb new to me, Hanlon’s Razor: “Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity”. At first, I was taken aback. How will it help to think someone is stupid?

But then I tried to apply it to a recent situation in my own life. An organization I belong to was late in sending out a notice of increased fees. I started to take it personally, to wonder if I was being punished for not attending the last meeting. But if I think about Hanlon’s razor, I could think that it was their stupidity (or incompetence) for not realizing the effect of a delay on other people. That decreased my temperature, and I started feeling less upset.

And the place I heard I from (an Economist podcast) also stated that research shows that a brain set on vengeance uses the same part of the brain as an addict thinking about his next fix. Wow! If I can avoid that by thinking about the episode as incompetent, then I have dodged a bullet.

As I was searching on this topic, I found some interesting podcasts that explore this idea more fully. I recommend a search.