This comparison between the Hanlon principle and the behavior of the paint and coating formulation sector presents some interesting questions and analyses.
by M.Sc. Ph.D. Julián A. Restrepo R.*
Introduction: "Half the world is made up of people who have something to say and can't. The other half, those who have nothing to say and do not stop saying it." Robert Frost.
Some of the philosophical topics below, in one way or another, are already somewhat repetitive in my line of writing, but as readers friends will know, I have already dealt in previous publications with some philosophical topics that I have been concatenating with the world of coatings and although in principle the topics seem dissimilar, In making a deep reflection on the future of its formulation and design, I continually encounter concepts such as the "Nash Equilibrium", "Ockham's Razor" (principle of simplicity or parsimony), the idea of the "Eternal Return", the "Murphy's Law", the "slow movement", serendipity, Synectics, among some others [1] [2]. And honestly, it is not easy to contextualize these concepts, which may be mostly philosophical for the world of coatings, but it is enough to study them a little more to understand them better and find phenomena and cases that lead us to paradoxical situations.
This time I try to add a new item to the list such as the "Hanlon Principle", which seems to be only a seemingly humorous, but pathetically true rule that considers the relationship between negligence, intelligence, evil and stupidity, and I try to associate it with the current logic of the development of coatings, as well as the evolution of the normativity and associated regulations.
Hanlon's principle, in brief
"Hanlon's razor or principle" is considered a universal law on stupidity, which is defined by the so-called set of rules on stupidity [3]:
1. Never attribute to malice what can be adequately explained by stupidity
2. Never attribute to stupidity what can be adequately explained by ineptitude
3. Never attribute to ineptitude what can be adequately explained by ignorance
The set of the three is extraordinarily powerful in the study of stupidity. Corrections, apart from being more politically correct, make it possible to solve cases in which people act who are not stupid, or even who are perfectly fit for the task [3]. Although Hanlon's principle is defined by these three rules, it is usually associated only with the first of the rules on stupidity, according to the phrase: "Never attribute to evil what can be explained by stupidity."
"The Hanlon Principle" is a seemingly jocular, but pathetically true rule, postulated by Robert J. Hanlon, from various phrases and corollaries about "Murphy's Law" and published in the book: "Murphy's Law, book two: More Reasons why things go wrong" by Arthur Bloch (1980) [4] [1j].
"Hanlon's Razor" can be deduced from "Finagle's Law" (also known as Finagle's Corollary to "Murphy's Law"), which says that, "something that can go wrong, will go wrong at the worst possible time." Likewise, there is a relationship between the "Ockham's Razor" and the "Hanlon Principle" [1b] [5], since the latter can be interpreted as a corollary of the "Ockham's Razor" since it also appeals to the simplest explanation: Indeed, human beings are characterized by being stupid more times than we are really evil [6]. And it's not just not a matter of frequencies. As far as Man is concerned, the clumsy is simpler than the perverse: obviously, it takes more intelligence and effort to act evilly (but conscientiously), than to make a mistake and not even notice it.
Other observations of the great influence of human error on evil appear in several works, such as goethe's book, "The Little Werther's Cuitas" (1774), which reads: "Misunderstandings and neglect create more confusion in the world than deceit and evil. In any case, the latter two are much less frequent" [7].
"The Hanlon Principle" is not just a more or less comical phrase, but it is based on a great truth: the true opposite of evil is not goodness, but stupidity. Evil and stupidity are opposite with respect to their effects, while evil and goodness are only opposite in terms of their intentions (and may lead to the same results according to the level of clumsiness) [6] (see Figure 1).
Figure 1: Relationship of effects between one's own and others' damage against the benefit of others and one's own
Coating design and regulations
The current coating formulator must be aware that the formulation of a paint today has changed: it must no longer only take into account raw materials and starting formulas, but regulations, market trends, the availability of materials in the future, toxicity and other associated risks (flammability, chemical compatibility, stability), among others. Thus, in the past there was a limited availability of suppliers of raw materials or better, a limited supply of raw materials for various applications and it was common to find exclusive materials in the market. Also, only a few companies had access to starting formulations. Today with Globalization, the Internet, connectivity and social networks, the flow, quantity and quality of information has increased exponentially (perhaps, according to the precepts of Moore's law [8]).
Likewise, currently the coating formulator has access to more suppliers of equipment and equipment in themselves, only considering that by increasing the supply of suppliers, in this aspect, equipment is now available on the market at reasonable costs and therefore, improves the development capacity, by increasing the capacity to perform tests and improvements to it in shorter terms and at an appreciable lower cost. This is how current suppliers, seeking to improve their service and relationship with their customers, not only have at their disposal a wide variety of technical information (technical sheets, documents, starting formulas), but also offer training and training sessions, as well as some have chosen to have a very competent sales team with high technical training (with chemical engineers in their sales area, for example), which allows them to provide solutions more effectively and quickly to the needs and requirements of their customers, than if they depended only on the information of their "parent company" (think, for example, in the times of sending the query and obtaining a response, which in some cases, can be up to several weeks!, in the case of large multinationals).
Some suppliers have even been more ambitious by going further, and now have their own customer-facing laboratories, in which they support the evaluation of raw materials and the development of new products, as well as the evaluation of final products. This was honestly unthinkable: only a few companies had competent laboratories that were adequately equipped with the staff and equipment to carry out the evaluations. Knowing that today a paint manufacturer can rely on its supplier to have this type of support is a great advantage, both from the point of view of responsiveness, and to guarantee the success of its product at a very low cost.
Finally, we must take into account a new ingredient in this whole equation and that is the issue of regulations, usually associated with environmental regulations. This is how the issues of quality and the establishment of performance specifications are given by standardization entities (such as ASTM in the US or Icontec in Colombia). While the issues of regulation and compliance with environmental standards is usually given by government entities.
Heavy metals make headlines
Heavy metals become toxic elements because they are bioaccumulative, since they tend to accumulate in living beings, this because they are eliminated at a very slow speed in the body. The main heavy metals are mercury, aluminum, lead, cadmium, arsenic and tin [9].
Exposure to lead and other heavy metals in ancient times represents one of the first environmental risks described in human history [10]. It is more than clear the problem of toxicity associated with the so-called heavy metals (being more precise, toxic heavy metals), since historically it has been postulated the possibility that a significant exposure to lead has contributed to the decline of the classical cultures of Greece and Rome (although still difficult to elucidate), there are even indications that emperors Julius Caesar and Octavian could present lead poisoning. Similarly, exposure to lead and mercury is spoken of in Egyptian culture (in the time of the pharaohs), and in the cultures of Crete and Sumer. During the Middle Ages the use of lead decreased and at the end of the fifteenth century its use by goldsmiths and painters increased, being them together with the miners the most affected by this metal. Studies conducted on the Greenland ice sheet suggest that there was a lot of environmental lead pollution during the Roman Empire and the Renaissance [10].
In 2016, various news associated with heavy metals were reported, in fact, making a small query on the network, when using the search criterion "heavy metals news", there are some 415,000 related news: From the food issue of tuna contaminated with high levels of mercury, found in the Colombian market. Where the confiscation of a large number of cans of tuna of the popular brand Van Camp's with a content of up to twice the allowed, of 1.0 mg / kg [11] is reported. Also, the various reports and news denouncing the devastating effects of the use of mercury for the illicit exploitation of gold in Colombia (illegal mining). It is estimated that Colombia releases more than 75 tons of mercury into the environment annually, being the third country on the planet, after China and Indonesia, that releases this substance the most [12].
Finally, in October 2016, the report [13] [14] was released: "Lead in solvent-based paints for domestic use in Colombia". The study was conducted as part of the Global Lead Paint Elimination Campaign, led by IPEN (www.ipen.org) and was conducted in Colombia by the Colnodo Foundation (http://www.colnodo.apc.org) and the Sustainable Development Network (http://www.rds.org.co), with the leadership and financial support of the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) and the New York Community Trust. NYCT). The same report had an important deployment in the newspaper El Tiempo (http://www.eltiempo.com/), which presented a special on paints and the importance of eliminating lead in the manufacture of these. 39 different alkyd enamels, air-drying solvent base, from the Colombian market were analyzed, and one of the main conclusions of the report is that 59% of the paints analyzed contained high and dangerous lead concentrations greater than 10,000 parts per million (ppm) of lead, when the international recommendation is that it does not exceed 50-100 ppm.
References
[1] (a) Restrepo, J.A., "The Nash Equilibrium, Part I"; Inpralatina, Vol. 17, No. 5, sept./oct. 2012, pp. 23-25; (b) Restrepo, J.A., "Ockham's Razor in the Formulation"; Inpralatina, Vol. 16, No. 4, July/August 2011, pp. 35-38; c) Restrepo, J.A., "The Idea of Eternal Return, Part I"; Inpralatina, Vol. 17, No. 3, May/June 2012, pp. 37-38; d) Restrepo, J.A., "The concept of Infoxication, part I". Inpralatina, Vol. 20, No. 3, May/Jun 2015 pp. 18-2; e) Restrepo, J.A., "The concept of Infoxication, part II". Inpralatina, Vol. 20, No. 4, Jul/Aug 2015 pp. 16-19; f) Restrepo, J.A., "Coating Development: 'Slow Movement', part I". Inpralatina, Vol. 21, No. 1, Jan/Feb 2016 pp. 17-21; g) Restrepo, J.A., "Coating Development: 'Slow Movement', part II". Inpralatina, Vol. 21, No. 2, Mar/Apr 2016 pp. 23-26; h) Restrepo, J.A. "Tools for the development of coatings, part I". Inpralatina, Vol. 20, No. 1, Jan/Feb 2015 pp. 17-20; i) Restrepo, J.A., "Tools for the development of coatings, part II". Inpralatina, Vol. 20, No. 2, Mar/Apr 2015 pp. 14-17; (j) Restrepo, J.A., "Murphy's Law, Part I"; Inpralatina, Vol. 18, No. 6, Nov/Dec 2013, pp. 12-15
[2] https://entusiasmado.com/lleyes-eponimas-que-rigen-nuestra-vida-y-has-de-conocer/
[3] https://elartedelaestrategia.blogspot.com.co/2011/11/estupidez-la-navaja-de-hanlon-y-otras.html#.WKBmYiYm7IV
[4] https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_J._Hanlon
[5] http://www.cibermitanios.com.ar/2015/03/la-navaja-de-ockham-y-el-principio-de.html
[6] a) http://www.cibermitanios.com.ar/2015/03/la-navaja-de-ockham-y-el-principio-de.html
[7] https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principio_de_Hanlon; b) https://enthused.com/la-navaja-hanlon/
[8] https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ley_de_Moore
[9] http://www.botanical-online.com/heavy-metals.htm
[10] (a) Robles-Osorio, M.L., Sabath, E., "A Brief History of Lead Poisoning: From Egyptian Culture to the Renaissance" (online document): http://www.medigraphic.com/pdfs/revinvcli/nn-2014/nn141j.pdf; b) http://www.ecoportal.net/Temas-Especiales/Salud/La poisoning by heavy metals and their elimination through natural remedies
[11] (a) http://www.semana.com/nacion/articulo/atun-enlatado-con-alta-contaminacion-de-mercurio-en-colombia/504325; (b) http://www.eltiempo.com/estilo-de-vida/salud/van-camps-al-hallazgo-de-atun-con-mercurio/16742489; (c) http://www.eltiempo.com/estilo-de-vida/salud/lo-que-hay-que-saber-sobre-atun-con-mercurio/16743628
[12] (a) http://noticias.caracoltv.com/colombia/el-mercurio-envenena-colombia-efectos-devastadores-de-la-mineria-ilegal; (b) http://www.elcolombiano.com/especiales/mercurio-en-antioquia/el-mercurio-un-monstruo-dormido-en-antioquia-YC721881; (c) http://www.eltiempo.com/multimedia/especiales/mineria-ilegal-en-colombia-comprar-mercurio-en-bogota-es-tan-facil-como-comprar-oro/16460373
[13] "Lead in solvent-based paints for domestic use in Colombia" (document on the internet): https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:xvCRxMGCx94J:https://rds.org.co/apc-aa-files/ba03645a7c069b5ed406f13122a61c07/reporte_plomo_en_pinturas_colombia_2016_final.pdf+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=co
[14] (a) http://www.eltiempo.com/multimedia/especiales/pinturas-con-plomo-un-contaminante-que-se-vende-libre-en-colombia/16772071/1; b) http://www.eltiempo.com/multimedia/especiales/plomo-en-pinturas-un-peligroso-toxico-de-venta-libre/16772569
* M.Sc. Ph.D. Julián A. Restrepo R. Advisor and Technical Consultant in Coatings. [email protected] - Medellin, Colombia.
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