In “Life the Universe and Everything” Douglas Adams introduces a cloaking device known as the Somebody Else’s Problem field.
Ford Prefect says:
An SEP is something we can’t see, or don’t see, or our brain doesn’t let us see, because we think that it’s somebody else’s problem. That’s what SEP means. Somebody Else’s Problem. The brain just edits it out, it’s like a blind spot.
The narration then explains:
The Somebody Else’s Problem field… relies on people’s natural predisposition not to see anything they don’t want to, weren’t expecting, or can’t explain. If Effrafax had painted the mountain pink and erected a cheap and simple Somebody Else’s Problem field on it, then people would have walked past the mountain, round it, even over it, and simply never have noticed that the thing was there.
Earlier in the trilogy, Zaphod Beeblebrox had a pair of stress reducing glasses. They worked by getting darker when the wearer was looking at something that might stress them out.
I think this was a smart-ass allusion to Plato’s cave. Adams was a seer, and no huge fan of dealing with blind muggle bullshit.
Any thoughts?