[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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