if anythig can go wrong, pass it on to somene else (florentin's laws)

7/31/2019 If Anythig Can Go Wrong, Pass It on to Somene Else (Florentin's Laws)

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F. Smarandache

IF ANYTHING CAN GO WRONG,PASS IT ON TO SOMEONE ELSE!

= Florentins Laws = When your team wins, it is thanks to you. If the team

looses, it is because of others. Even good things have negative side effects. Moreover,

negative things have positive side effects. Dont play by others rules. Build your own rules that

allow you to win. If you still dont win, prove the gameis useless.

If hes better than you, deny him. If hes worse thanyou, praise him.

If you can't beat them, beat others. If bad actions are in your favor, make them look good.

If good actions disadvantage you, undermine them.

As a commander, dont appoint as second in line onewho is smarter than you are. If things go from bad to worse, they dont belong to you. If it matters against you, make as it doesnt matter. If it's not worth doing, let others do it. Oh, God, protect me from my friends, because from my

enemies I protect myself! Interpret the worst things positively, and the good

things negatively. Failure is good - it brings you experience. Success can

make you lazy and arrogant.


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Florentins Laws

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F. Smarandache

IF ANYTHING CAN GO WRONG,

PASS IT ON TO SOMEONE ELSE!

= Florentins Laws =

Editor: V. Christianto

XIQUAN

1986, 1990


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This book can be orderedin microfilm format from:

Books on DemandUniversity of Microfilm International 300 N. Zeeb Road P.O. Box 1346, Ann Arbor MI 48106-1346, USA Tel.: 1-800-521-0600 (Customer Service)

1990 by Xiquan and the Editors 1986-1989 by the Author

Peer Reviewer:V. Christianto (Asia) G. Roca (Australia)

(ISBN-10): 1-879585-98-7


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If anything can go wrong,pass it on to someone else!

ADVENTURES AND VARIATIONS INMURPHYS LAW

PREFACE

Probably all of us used to hear the MurphysLaw, in particular if youre in industrial designoffice. This rule, saying that If anything can gowrong, it will go wrong, has become a rule of

thumb in industrial design, for instance electricalengineers who design USB plug will make theplugs asymmetrically, only to make sure that nostupid person will plug the USB in the wrongway.While this simple law works in these smallindustrial applications, for some people,Murphys Law sounds too pessimistic, becauseno one can say with full certainty that anything


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will go wrong (or not) given a design or given aplanning. Therefore, one can also say thatprobably there is exclusion of this Murphyslaw, for example, given a weather prediction thattomorrow its going to be raining, then does italways mean that it is going to be raining?Similarly, in other practical or social

applications, Murphys law may not beapplicable. For instance, if a wanna-be politicianwould take this Murphys law at its face value, itis more likely is that he/she will not dare enoughto assume a chair, either as governor, stateminister, or president of country. It is morelikely, a politician and particularly politicianwithout engineering thinking will adoptanother pragmatic principle: If anything can gowrong, pass it on to someone else. In these

situations it is more likely that he or she (forexample if he has made decision in the past toembark a misguided combat against XYZcountry for unproven reasons) will useFlorentins law instead of Murphys law.In the mean time, Peters law (If anything cango wrong, fix it!) is best exemplified by theUSB illustration above, that industrial designersnowadays prefer to anticipate what can possibly


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go wrong, and then design to protect it before ithappens. Some people may call this practice asFool-proof design. Just remember inSimpsons Movie, how the fence of the lake isdesigned as fool-proof. But unfortunately thehurry Homer breaks the fence with his truck.Things like that happened all the time. In other

words, sometimes the problem is that we dontknow how fool-proof is fool-proof.In philosophical parlance, Peters law can beconsidered as Weberian (you know, those whothink that hard-work ethics is the basic elementof good society, and it does), while Murphyslaw may be more like Malthusian (for who canescape from the fate of anything that canpossibly go wrong?). In this sense, Florentinslaw can be considered as something between

these extreme situations: it is more comparableto Zen attitude, in the sense that it is advising usto keep the hard work, but keep it fun too. Or if we are allowed to rephrase a wisdom saying:

Give me strength to change what can bechanged,

And patience to accept what cannot bechanged,

And courage to pass it on to someone else


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to make the changes happened,And wisdom to keep the change.

To conclude, if you think that Murphys lawseems to go wrong, just pass it on to Florentinslaw.

F. S.


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WHAT AND WHY FLO RENTINS LAW

Starting from the 1980 Paradoxisms Laws :1. All is possible, the impossible too!2. Nothing is perfect, not even the perfect!3. Everything is bad, the good included

and reciprocally;4. The sense has a non-sense, and the non-

sense a sense;5. Anything has a value and a non-value;

a new series of laws emerged in 1986-1989.

Florentins Laws are neither Murphys(pessimistic) Laws nor Peters (optimistic)

Laws , but partially pessimistic and partiallyoptimistic, while another part is neutral(ambiguous: neither pessimistic nor optimistic) as in neutrosophic logic.Therefore, each Florentins law includesnegatives and positives, unlike Murphys lawwhich has only negative attributes, andrespectively Peters law which has mostlypositive attributes or results.


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Being paradoxist in nature, Florentins Lawsare especially deviations, modifications,generalizations, contra-sayings, parodies, ormixtures of the previous Murphy-Peter laws.And also of aphorisms, proverbs, knowncitations, clichs, scientific results (from

physics, mathematics, philosophy, ...), etc.Alternatively, collations of opposite ideas -gathered from folklore, from ads, from literature,from familiar speech.

For example, Murphys lawAnything that can go wrong will gowrong

which in Peters law is stated as:If anything can go wrong, Fix It!

becomes in Florentins law, through deviation:If anything can go wrong, pass it on tosomeone else!

in a Machiavelli way, as a mixture of pessimism / optimism and laugh!

In the above example, while Murphys lawoutput is negative and Peters law output is

positive , Florentins law output is indeterminate


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[perversity] as in neutrosophic logic (i. e. theproblem has not be solved, but passed to anotherperson!... its a trickery (deception, cunning,dodge, swindle, caper, subterfuge).

Florentins laws are in between MurphysLaws and Peters Laws, since they are less

pessimistic than Murphys, and less optimisticthan Peters. They break both Murphys andPeters Laws as well as various petrifiedstatements or clichs.When talking about conflicts, these threecategories of laws can get closer to the Art of War, by Sun Tzu [SunZi] (VI-V centuries B.C.).Nevertheless, they often bear some humor... andthats what the readers feel attracted for.

Many examples of Florentins Laws canbe constructed and the readers are welcome tocontribute to a future printed and onlinecollective volume of such laws.

Each Florentin's Law should include:negative (pessimism) and positive (optimism)attributes, while its conclusion should be


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moderate often trickery bended with humor.

E-mail your contribution [email protected] at anytime.

Main References:

E. A. Murphy, Murphys Laws, 1949.

Peter H. Diamandis, Peter's Laws / The Creed of the Sociopathic Obsessive Compulsive {PetersLaws # 14 & #18 by Todd B. Hawley}, 1986.

F. Smarandache, Florentins Laws / How-To-Doand Not-To-Do List, 1986-1989.

F. S.


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Florentins Laaws

!An Author to the Cube!


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Florentins Laws: To hell withMurphy, deviate!

1. If anything can go wrong, pass it on to

someone else!

2. When your team wins, it is thanks to you.If the team looses, it is because of others.

3. Get a reason to award your friends, and apretext to punish your enemies.

4. Even good things have negative sideeffects. Moreover, negative things havepositive side effects.

5. Dont play by others rules. Build yourown rules that allow you to win. If youstill dont win, prove the game is useless.

6. If hes better than you, deny him.If hes worse than you, praise him.


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7. If you can't beat them, beat others.

8. If bad actions are in your favor, makethem look good.If good actions disadvantage you,undermine them.

9.

Elect the boss who is worse than you are,so you can manipulate him.

10. As a commander, dont appoint as secondin line one who is smarter than you are.

11. If things go from bad to worse, they dontbelong to you.

12. If it matters against you, make as itdoesnt matter.

13. If it's not worth doing, let others do it.

14. Oh, God, protect me from my friends,because from my enemies I protectmyself!


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15. We are unhappy because we always wantwhat we dont have and to be where weare not. Moreover, we are happy when wedont ask for anything so live anamorphous life!

16. If you classify the last, switch the order.

If youre somehow in the middle, invent anew world order that sets you in the front.

17. Interpret the worst thing positively, andthe good things negatively.

18. Failure is good - it brings you experience.Success can make you lazy and arrogant.

19. The less people understand a theory, thesmarter they believe it is. So, make easythings complicated!

20. The more you work, the more work youhave. And the less you work, the lesswork you have.

21. If youre always wrong, re-define thenotion of wrongness. If youre always


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right, forget about!

22. Dont visit sites that slander you, neitherthose that flatter you. Erase them from your memory.


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Florentins Laws: Relax Peters!

23. Dont run when you can walk! { Festina

lente. } Let others struggle!

24. The faster you go, the more energy youconsume and earlier you die so slowdown!

25. Its easier to challenge, than to bechallenged.{The best defense is the attack, says asoccer proverb.}

26. When forced to compromise, donthesitate to comprise the compromiser.

27. Interpret the defeat as a victory, even if no body might believe it. Pay attention tothe victory, it might be deceptive


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28. Dont doubt when in doubt. Dont besure when youre sure.

29. If you have no choice, still choose!When given two choices, take three!

30. Bless your enemies, they ambition you.

Blame your friends, they idle you.31. If your foes dont like to do something,

make them do that. If they love it, provetheyre wrong.

32. If you do not want to execute an order,convince others to executing it. If you do,still have others helping you.

33. A rejection is a step ahead. A promotionbrings you closer to your level of incompetence [according to The PeterPrinciple (1968)].

34. Be dignified in your fallingand suspicious in your rising.


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34. We work very well together,especially me;but we sometimes commit mistakes,

especially you.


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Florentins Interdisciplinary Laws

Children Watching TV Rule :

The best TV is no TV!The worst TV is the TV.

Department of National Injustice :

Law is a barrier that hounds jump over,puppies pass under, and caws come up against it.[Romanian folklore]

Bosss Rules :

1. The chief is right.2. When the chief is not right, the previous

article applies.[Romanian folklore]


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Double Negation :

If you committed a mistake, make anotherone to correct the first mistake.

Governments Financial Principle:The government never gets bankrupt, even

if it gets bankrupt (because the government justprints more money!).[Folklore]

Property Principle:

What is yours is mine, and what is mine ismine. [Folklore]

Theorem of Incompleteness :

If youre not sure of a proof, ask yourenemies criticism. After youre sure of the


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proof, check it again.

First Law of Equilibrium:

The further is a place from you, the moreappealing it looks.

The closer a place it is, the more boring itlooks.{ For an equilibrium, think the opposite in eachcase: far places are yet closer, and close placesare further. }

Second Law of Equilibrium:

You believe things you have are

worthless; if so, throw them away (and they willbe worthy).

You believe things you dont have areextraordinary; then imagine you have them (andafter a while their value would decrease)...


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Uncertainty Principle :

When not certain, be certain.In addition, when certain, do not be

certain!


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More variations in Florentins law

The followings are various modifications andapplications of Florentins law.

Florentins law in research:If anything can go wrong to your research,

pass it on to the references.

Florentin law for old scientists:Old scientists never die; they only become

more prone to be blamed for all mistakes in thepast. Contemporary scientists are always right,

especially when they are not.

Florentins laws for statistician :- If you dont understand a theorem, make it

as obscure as possible.- If you want to convince others, scale down

your findings. If you want to make a surprise,generalize it to global scale. (Example: Darwinsfinding was based on small-scale sample


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observation at Galapagos island, yet it madesurprises for the past century.)

- If at first you dont succeed, erase your dataset. But if you succeed, double it to impressothers.

Florentins law for lawyer:

If anything can go wrong to your case, pass iton to the jury.

Florentins law for programmers:To err is human, to re-curse is divine.

Florentins law for the incompetent president:If anything can go wrong to your presidential

duty, pass it on to your advisory staff.[Karl Rove?]

Florentins law for the chess player:If anything can go wrong to your chess game,

pass it on to your secondhand.

Florentins law for soldier:It pays off to let your self not in the first row,

because chance to be shot is larger at front side.


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Florentins law for biker:It pays off to let yourself behind the

frontrunner at least until the last miles, becausethe biker in front of you will get bigger wind-pressure than you get.


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if anythig can go wrong, pass it on to somene else (florentin's laws)

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