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Re:CVE program faces swift end after DHS fails to renew cont... by ggm on Tuesday April 15, 2025 @11:25PM (#43701131)
Hanlon's razor. I also tend to impute malice to things I don't like, but I think it's hard to go past stupidity.
Re:CVE program faces swift end after DHS fails to renew cont... by JoshTriplett on Wednesday April 16, 2025 @12:09AM (#43701360)
Sufficiently advanced stupidity is indistinguishable from malice.

(Leaving aside that there's plenty of evidence of malice here.)

Re:CVE program faces swift end after DHS fails to renew cont... by groby_b on Tuesday April 15, 2025 @11:29PM (#43701154)
Stupidity rarely has a consistent destructive track record. You score occasional wins. Only malice allows every decision to do damage. (The other razor, essentially - Occam)
Re:CVE program faces swift end after DHS fails to renew cont... by gregw2 on Wednesday April 16, 2025 @12:19AM (#43701420)
I love Hanlon's razor. Super-helpful in certain contexts: "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity."

But, having known about it for a dozen years now, I also find it inadequate alone as a razor without the following caveats/corollaries:

Hubbard's corollary to Hanlon's Razor: "Never attribute to malice or stupidity that which can be explained by moderately rational individuals following incentives in a complex system". ( https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanlon's_razor#Exceptions )

Or (HN) Nerdponx's punchier simplification: "When money is at stake, never attribute to incompetence what could be attributed to greed." ( https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41066724 )

Re:CVE program faces swift end after DHS fails to renew cont... by Terr_ on Wednesday April 16, 2025 @12:23AM (#43701449)
Hanlon's Razor is susceptible to pathological inputs, causing unbounded runtime.

A large amount of things related to Trump fall into that category, and it's important to recognize when you need to instead treat it as a superposition: It is both malice and incompetence, unless the perpetrators decide to plead just one or the other.

Re:CVE program faces swift end after DHS fails to renew cont... by mrguyorama on Wednesday April 16, 2025 @01:41PM (#43708243)
Hanlon's razor is utter trash. In most contexts that people bring it up, sufficient stupidity IS malice, because at a certain level of resources and responsibility, you do not have an excuse to be that stupid

You can only get into such a position if you've ignored smart people telling you "No". That's malice.