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Hanlon's razor
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==Variations== Grey's law (a humorous [[parallelism (grammar)|parallel]] to [[Clarke's three laws|Arthur C. Clarke's 3rd law]]): {{Quote|Any sufficiently advanced incompetence is indistinguishable from malice.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://medium.com/personal-growth/the-world-is-not-out-to-get-you-a7233699b0de | title = The world is not out to get you | first = Gustavo | last = Razzetti | date = 2019-07-08 | website = medium.com | access-date = 2024-09-29}}</ref>}} [[Douglas W. Hubbard]] quoted Hanlon's razor and added "a clumsier but more accurate corollary": {{Quote|Never attribute to malice or stupidity that which can be explained by moderately rational individuals following [[incentive]]s in a [[complex system]].{{sfn|Hubbard|2020|pp=81-82}} }} A variation appears in ''[[The Wheels of Chance]]'' (1896) by [[H. G. Wells]]: {{Blockquote|There is very little deliberate wickedness in the world. The stupidity of our selfishness gives much the same results indeed, but in the ethical laboratory it shows a different nature.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wells |first=H. G. |title=The Wheels of Chance |year=1896}}</ref>}} A similar quote is also misattributed to [[Napoleon]].<ref name=shan>{{cite web |last1=Selin |first1=Shannon |title=Napoleon Misquoted - Ten Famous Things Bonaparte Never Actually Said |url=https://militaryhistorynow.com/2014/07/14/ten-famous-things-napoleon-never-actually-said/ |website=MilitaryHistoryNow.com |access-date=12 April 2019 |date=14 July 2014}}</ref> [[Andrew Roberts, Baron Roberts of Belgravia|Andrew Roberts]], in [[Churchill: Walking with Destiny|his biography of Winston Churchill]], quotes from Churchill's correspondence with [[George VI|King George VI]] in February 1943 regarding disagreements with [[Charles de Gaulle]]: "His insolence ... may be founded on stupidity rather than malice."<ref>{{cite book | first = Andrew | last = Roberts | publisher = Penguin Books | year = 2019 | title = [[Churchill: Walking with Destiny]] | isbn = 9781101981009 | location = New York }}</ref>{{Reference page|771}}
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