Talk:Somebody else's problem/Archives/2012

Unencyclopedic

I'm not sure this is such a good topic for an article — seems a bit narrow and specialized, and I don't know that there's enough to say about the phrase in connection with Douglas Adams to warrant it. Thoughts? tgies (talk) 00:51, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

• Perhaps I should have made this clear earlier: I think this phrase describes a recognisable phenomenon that has passed into public consciousness and is in widespread use by politicians and other commentators. Douglas Adams probably helped to popularise it, arguably because he described the human predisposition so well. So it is principally a matter of culture and psychology. -

Pointillist (talk) 01:42, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

What nonsense. The phrase 'someone/body else's problem' and 'not my problem' have been around for a hell of a long time. The idea that politicians and others with media access start using it ought to mean that encyclopaedia have an entry about it, or that Douglas Adams ought to be credited with anything at all, is preposterous and a sign that this part of Wikipedia is becoming too 'Web 2.0' for words. Get offline for a while kids.

Disagree I think it should stay, it's referenced and everything. Notperm (talk) 03:46, 16 June 2008 (UTC)

• Well, now we have 10 serious (and two playful) citations, so I think it is fair to remove the cautionary templates for the time being. The article still needs more shaping, but I hope it is clear that by bringing together a variety of issues that have all been associated with the "Somexxxs else's problem" label, the article is not too narrow for Wikipedia. - Pointillist (talk) 23:26, 18 June 2008 (UTC)
• Sorry if this talk should be under a new heading - I'm new to this. Anyway, I'm wondering if the photo should be there: it allegedly shows the spaceship referenced in Adams' book at Lords, but in reality shows Lords, without any spaceship. I think that's somewhat frivolous. 144.254.236.200 (talk) 16:18, 12 August 2008 (UTC)

• Thanks. I've removed the reference to Starship Bistromath from the caption. The image itself just illustrates a game of cricket at Lords. As this is a culture-specific reference in the SEP field section, the picture is probably helpful on that basis. - Pointillist (talk) 22:10, 13 August 2008 (UTC)

Possible Linkage?

Is it possible to use a TVTropes Entry on this for the In Fiction section? Raekuul, bringer of Tropes (He does it without notability) 22:32, 17 January 2009 (UTC)

The Selfish Gene unapropriate

[Richard Dawkins]] argued in The Selfish Gene that organisms can act altruistically (against their individual interests) to help related organisms reproduce.

Yes, but only if there is high kinship between the organisms in the genes terms (eg. people). Or if they cant reproduce themselfs and there is high kinship (eg. bee's), etc

I think the mention on wiki is misguiding.

(Yacz (talk) 15:56, 25 June 2010 (UTC))

Removed from In fiction

The SEP field in "Life, the Universe and Everything" is sourced to the book itself. If these or others can be reliably sourced as being related to "Somebody Else's Problem" (not just a random blog or letter to the editor.. if it's a fan website, it should be a solid article from a solid source, likely with the website having a Wikipedia article with no issues), they can be returned to the article. Revelian (talk) 16:04, 28 August 2011 (UTC)

Doctor Who

The concept is similar to the perception filter used in Doctor Who (which Adams contributed to); when something is under a perception filter, people do not consciously register what they are looking at (Although it has been noted that people can see through a filter if they know there is something to look for). Even without using this filter the Doctor can "hide" his TARDIS. In the episode Boom Town the Doctor explains why people don't notice it standing in the middle of a busy public square: "Let me tell you something about the human race. You put a mysterious blue box slap-bang in the middle of town, what do they do? Walk past it."

Misfits

In the TV series Misfits, the character Simon Bellamy possesses the power of invisibility; however, when this power is temporarily 'inverted', after he takes drugs, it results in people noticing him rather than his usual habit of fading into the background, suggesting that he is not invisible in the sense of bending light but that he is instead able to stop people consciously registering his presence, with his inverted power attracting rather than deflecting peoples' awareness of him.

Discworld

In the Discworld novels by Terry Pratchett, SEP is a recurring phenomenon associated to situations or, more commonly, to characters. Death and his adoptive granddaughter Susan, are some of the characters who have the power of being invisible, even when interacting with other characters. Because the idea of seeing the anthropomorphic representation of death is so uncomfortable, one's brain most often ignores the presence altogether or, in the case of Death, and if it is really required, creates an alternative representation. However, later these characters cannot remember what Death looks like, or even what the fake representation looked like, except that it is tall and skinny. Because Susan is also human, other characters can normally perceive her, but, if she wants, their mind will find her presence too uncomfortable and try to forget her as soon as possible, even if in the middle of a conversation. Post-it and other types of note taking tactics are proven to be completely ineffective.

All the quotes

Much of this can possibly be transwiki'd as a new subject article on Wikiquote:. -- œ^™ 12:56, 23 September 2011 (UTC)

Removed from page

Direct quote with no tie made to the rest of the section, please rewrite and specify WHO. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 192.249.47.196 (talk) 23:14, November 23, 2011‎

When trying to "alert the public to the risk of low-probability, high-consequence disasters such as severe floods... we may be asking the public to act on someone else's problem." referenced to: Peter O’Neill (2004). "Developing A Risk Communication Model to Encourage Community Safety from Natural Hazards" (PDF). New South Wales State Emergency Service. p. 11. Retrieved 2008-06-06. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)