A version of this appears in the writings of science fiction author Robert A. Heinlein, but he probably based his on Hanlon or other writings published prior to his. In any case, Heinlein was kidding.
To conflate with Arthur C. Clarke (Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic),
Any sufficiently advanced stupidity is indistinguishable from malice.
Consider Skeptical Zen 101:
Step 1: Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.
Step 2: Never attribute to stupidity that which might be adequately explained by a large set of circumstances you aren’t aware of.
Perhaps whatever it is you observed was not due to stupidity, nor to malice, but to the exercise of a failed sense of humor.
]]>