Murphy's Laws I

I

IBM Pollyanna Principle (IBM'S Incorrect Principle)
Machines should work. People should think.

Idea Formula
One man's brain plus one other will produce about one half as many ideas as one man would have
produced alone. These two plus two more will produce half again as many ideas. These four plus
four more begin to represent a creative meeting, and the ratio changes to one quarter as many.

The Ike Tautology
Things are more like they are now than they have ever been before.
Corollary - Nostalgia isn't what it used to be.

Iles's Law
There is an easier way to do it.
Corollaries:
1.When looking directly at the easier way, especially for long periods, you will not see it.
2.Neither will Iles.

Imhoff's Law
The organization of any bureaucracy is very much like a septic tank -- the REALLY big chunks
always rise to the top.

Law of Inanimate Mobility
All inanimate objects can move just enough to get in your way

The Inapplicable Law
Washing your car to make it rain doesn't work.

Index of Development
The degree of a country's development is measured by the ratio of the price of an automobile to the
cost of a haircut. The lower the ratio, the higher the degree of development.

Law of the Individual
Nobody really cares or understands what anyone else is doing.

Law of Inertia
Where there's a will, there's a won't.

Law of Inside Dope
There are many inside dopes in politics and government.

Law of Institutions
The opulence of the front office decor varies inversely with the fundamental solvency of the firm.

Law of Insurance Rates And Taxes
Whatever goes up, stays up.

Iron Law of Distribution
Them what has -- gets. Wakefield's Refutation of the Iron Law of Distribution:
Them what gets -- has.

Issawi's Law of Aggression
At any given moment, a society contains a certain amount of accumulatedand accruing
aggressiveness. If more than 21 years elapse without this aggressiveness being directed outward,
in a popular war against other countries, it turns inward, in social unrest, civil disturbances, and
political disruption.

Issawi's Law of Consumption Patterns
Other people's patterns of expenditure and consumption are highly irrational and slightly immoral.

Issawi's Law of Cynics
Cynics are right nine times out of ten; what undoes them is their belief that they are right ten times
out of ten.

Issawi's Law of Dogmatism
When we call others dogmatic, what we really object to is their holding dogmas that are different
from our own.

Issawi's Law of Estimation of Error
Experts in advanced countries underestimate by a factor of 2 to 4 the ability of people in
underdeveloped countries to do anything technical.

Issawi's Law of Frustration
One cannot make an omelette without breaking eggs -- but it is amazing how many eggs one can
break without making a decent omelette.

Issawi's Law of the Conservation of Evil
The total amount of evil in any system remains constant. Hence, any diminution in one direction -- for
instance, a reduction in poverty or unemployment -- is accompanied by an increase in another, e.g.,
crime or air pollution.

Issawi's Law of the Social Sciences
By the time a social science theory is formulated in such a way that it can be tested, changing
circumstances have already made it obsolete.

Issawi's Laws of Committo-Dynamics
1.Comitas comitatum, omnia comitas.
2.The less you enjoy serving on committees, the more likely you are to be pressed to do so.

Issawi's Laws of Progress
The Course of Progress: Most things get steadily worse.
The Path of Progress: A shortcut is the longest distance between two points.
The Dialectics of Progress: Direct action produces direct reaction.
The Pace of Progress: Society is a mule, not a car... If pressed too hard, it will kick and throw off its
rider.

Issawi's Observation on the Consumption of Paper
Each system has its own way of consuming vast amounts of paper: in socialist societies by filling
large forms in quadruplicate, in capitalist societies by putting up huge posters and wrapping every
article in four layers of cardboard.

Italian Proverb
She who is silent consents.