[ExI] Occam's razor

Ben Zaiboc ben at zaiboc.net
Sat Jan 21 09:06:12 UTC 2023


On 20/01/2023 22:53, bill w wrote:
> Just reading An Immense World, by Ed Jong (author of I Contain 
> Multitudes). Surprisingly, he makes a common error:  he wrote that 
> Occam's Razor meant that the simplest explanation is the best.  
> Totally wrong.  It is as likely to be wrong as any other explanation.
>
> It means that the simplest explanation is preferred because it 
> involves the fewest assumptions (entities, Occam wrote), and as we 
> know, assumptions can be wrong.
>
> Agree?   bill w

Well, it's not so much a matter of agreeing, as a matter of are you 
correct? You are, as far as I understand it.

However:

Which is the simpler formulation of Occam's Razor, "the simplest 
explanation is preferred because it involves the fewest assumptions" or 
"the simplest explanation is the best"?  ;>

Ben
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