Editing Sturgeon's law

{{short description|"Ninety percent of everything is crap"}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2020}}

[[File:Venture Science Fiction Magazine Volume 1 Issue 5 September 1957.jpg|thumb| The cover of the September 1957 issue of ''[[Venture Science Fiction]]'', in which Sturgeon first published "90% of everything is crud."]]

'''Sturgeon's law''' (or '''Sturgeon's revelation''') is an [[adage]] stating "ninety percent of everything is crap".  It was coined by [[Theodore Sturgeon]], an American [[science fiction author]] and critic, and was inspired by his observation that, while [[science fiction]] was often derided for its low quality by critics, most work in other fields was low-quality too, and so science fiction was no different.<ref>{{citation |pages=76–77 |title=The Dictionary of Modern Proverbs |year=2012 |isbn=9780300183351 |publisher=Yale University Press |editor1=Charles Clay Doyle |editor2=Fred R. Shapiro |editor3=Wolfgang Mieder}}</ref>

== Development ==

Sturgeon deemed Sturgeon's law to mean "nothing is always absolutely so".<ref name="venture195707">{{Cite magazine |title=ON HAND: A Book|date=July 1957 |magazine=[[Venture Science Fiction]] |last=Sturgeon |first=Theodore |page=78 |publisher=Fantasy House, Inc. |issue=4 |editor-last=Mills |editor-first=Robert P. |volume=1 |author-link=Theodore Sturgeon |editor-link=Robert P. Mills}}</ref> By this, he meant his observation (building on "Sturgeon's Revelation" that the majority of everything is of low quality) that the existence of a majority of low-quality content in every genre disproves the idea that any single genre is inherently low-quality. This adage previously appeared in his story "The Claustrophile" in a 1956 issue of ''[[Galaxy Science Fiction|Galaxy]]''.<ref>"The Claustrophile", ''[[Galaxy Science Fiction|Galaxy]]'' August 1956</ref>

The second adage, variously rendered as "ninety percent of everything is crud" or "ninety percent of everything is crap", was published as "Sturgeon's Revelation" in his book review column for ''[[Venture Science Fiction Magazine|Venture]]''<ref name="venture">{{Cite magazine |last=Sturgeon |first=Theodore |author-link=Theodore Sturgeon |date=September 1957 |editor-last=Mills |editor-first=Robert P. |editor-link=Robert P. Mills |title=ON HAND . . . Offhand: Books |url=https://archive.org/details/Venture_v01n05_1957-09_Gorgon776/ |access-date=2023-07-14 |magazine=[[Venture Science Fiction]] |publisher=Fantasy House, Inc. |page=49 |volume=1 |issue=5}}</ref> in 1957. However, almost all modern uses of the term Sturgeon's law refer to the second,{{citation needed|date=December 2018}} including the definition listed in the ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]''.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Sturgeon's Law |encyclopedia=Oxford English Dictionary |url=http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/246938 |access-date=6 January 2019}}</ref>

According to science fiction author [[William Tenn]], Sturgeon first expressed his law circa 1951, at a talk at [[New York University]] attended by Tenn.<ref>{{cite web |title=Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction: Sturgeon's Law |url=https://sfdictionary.com/view/328/sturgeons-law |access-date=2022-11-15}}</ref> The statement was subsequently included in a talk Sturgeon gave at a 1953 [[Labor Day]] weekend session of the [[World Science Fiction Convention]] in [[Philadelphia]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Sturgeon's Law |url=https://christopher-mckitterick.com/Sturgeon-Campbell/Sturgeons-Law.htm |access-date=2023-01-15 |website=christopher-mckitterick.com}}</ref>

The first written reference to the adage is in the September 1957 issue of [[Venture Science Fiction Magazine|''Venture'']]:

{{quote|And on that hangs Sturgeon’s revelation. It came to him that [science fiction] is indeed ninety-percent crud, but that also – Eureka! – ''ninety-percent of '''everything''' is crud''. All things{{snd}} cars, books, cheeses, hairstyles, people, and pins are, to the expert and discerning eye, crud, except for the acceptable tithe which we each happen to like.<ref name="venture"/>}}

The adage appears again in the March&nbsp;1958 issue of [[Venture Science Fiction Magazine|''Venture'']], where Sturgeon wrote:

{{quote|It is in this vein that I repeat Sturgeon's Revelation, which was wrung out of me after twenty years of wearying defense of science fiction against attacks of people who used the worst examples of the field for ammunition, and whose conclusion was that ninety percent of S.F. is crud.
;''The Revelation'':
:Ninety percent of ''everything'' is crud.
;''Corollary 1'':
: The existence of immense quantities of trash in science fiction is admitted and it is regrettable; but it is no more unnatural than the existence of trash anywhere.
;''Corollary 2'':
: The best science fiction is as good as the best fiction in any field.<ref name="venture58">{{cite magazine |last=Sturgeon |first=Theodore |author-link=Theodore Sturgeon |date=1958 |title=Books: On Hand |magazine=Venture Science Fiction |volume=2 |issue=2 |page=66}}</ref>}}

== Precedents and proponents ==
In the 1870 novel, ''[[Lothair (novel)|Lothair]]'', by [[Benjamin Disraeli]], it is asserted that: <blockquote>Nine-tenths of existing books are nonsense, and the clever books are the refutation of that nonsense.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Disraeli |first=Benjamin |title=Lothair |year=1870 |chapter=Chapter 29}}</ref> </blockquote>A similar adage appears in [[Rudyard Kipling]]'s ''[[The Light That Failed]]'', published in 1890. 

{{quote|Four-fifths of everybody's work must be bad. But the remnant is worth the trouble for its own sake.<ref name="google">{{cite book |title=The Writings in Prose and Verse of Rudyard Kipling |last=Kipling |first=Rudyard |author-link=Rudyard Kipling |isbn=9785874724696|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kRELAwAAQBAJ|year=1897|publisher=Рипол Классик }}</ref>}}

A 1946 essay ''[[Confessions of a Book Reviewer]]'' by [[George Orwell]] asserts about books:

{{quote|In much more than nine cases out of ten the only objectively truthful criticism would be "This book is worthless&nbsp;..."<ref name="orwell">{{cite web |first=G. |last=Orwell |author-link=George Orwell |year=1946 |title=Confessions of a Book Reviewer |url=https://www.orwellfoundation.com/the-orwell-foundation/orwell/essays-and-other-works/confessions-of-a-book-reviewer/}}</ref>}}

In 2009, a paper published in ''[[The Lancet]]'' estimated that over 85% of health and medical research is wasted.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Chalmers  |first1=Iain |last2=Glasziou |first2=Paul  |date=4 July 2009 |title=Avoidable waste in the production and reporting of research evidence |url=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19525005/ |journal=The Lancet |volume=374 |issue=9683 |pages=86–9 |doi=10.1016/S0140-6736(09)60329-9 |pmid=19525005 |access-date=7 January 2025}}</ref>

In 2013, philosopher [[Daniel Dennett]] championed Sturgeon's law as one of his seven tools for critical thinking.<ref>{{cite web |first=D. |last=Dennett |author-link=Daniel Dennett |date=21 May 2013 |title=Daniel Dennett presents ''Seven Tools for Critical Thinking'' |website=OpenCulture.com |url=http://www.openculture.com/2013/05/philosopher_daniel_dennett_presents_seven_tools_for_critical_thinking.html}}</ref>

{{quote|90% of everything is crap. That is true, whether you are talking about physics, chemistry, evolutionary psychology, sociology, medicine{{snd}} you name it{{snd}} rock music, country western. 90% of everything is crap.<ref>{{cite book |first=D. |last=Dennett |author-link=Daniel Dennett |year=2013 |title=Seven Tools for Critical Thinking}}</ref>}}

== See also ==
* [[Hanlon's razor]]
* [[List of eponymous laws]]
* [[Not even wrong]]
* [[Pareto distribution]]
* [[Pareto principle]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

== External links==
{{Refbegin}}
* Theodore Sturgeon's 1972 interview with [[David G. Hartwell]], ''[[The New York Review of Science Fiction]]'' #7 March 1989; #8 April 1989
{{Refend}}

{{Theodore Sturgeon}}

[[Category:Adages]]
[[Category:Art criticism]]
[[Category:Galaxy Science Fiction]]
[[Category:1950s neologisms]]