<div dir="auto">Some possibly useful references:<div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">Why the laws are simple:</div><div dir="auto"><a href="https://alwaysasking.com/why-does-anything-exist/#Why_the_Laws_are_Simple" rel="noreferrer noreferrer noreferrer noreferrer" target="_blank">https://alwaysasking.com/why-does-anything-exist/#Why_the_Laws_are_Simple</a></div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">Why the laws are life friendly (while being otherwise maximally simple):</div><div dir="auto"><a href="https://alwaysasking.com/why-does-anything-exist/#Why_the_Laws_are_Life-Friendly">https://alwaysasking.com/why-does-anything-exist/#Why_the_Laws_are_Life-Friendly</a></div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">Law without law: from observer states to physics via algorithmic information theory:<br></div><div dir="auto"><a href="https://arxiv.org/pdf/1712.01826v5.pdf" rel="noreferrer noreferrer noreferrer" target="_blank">https://arxiv.org/pdf/1712.01826v5.pdf</a><br></div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">Why Occam's Razor:</div><div dir="auto"><a href="https://arxiv.org/pdf/physics/0001020.pdf" rel="noreferrer noreferrer" target="_blank">https://arxiv.org/pdf/physics/0001020.pdf</a><br></div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">Could the physical world be emergent:</div><div dir="auto"><a href="https://arxiv.org/pdf/1712.01826v1.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">https://arxiv.org/pdf/1712.01826v1.pdf</a></div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">Jason</div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Sat, Jan 21, 2023, 4:07 AM Ben Zaiboc via extropy-chat <<a href="mailto:extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org" rel="noreferrer noreferrer noreferrer noreferrer" target="_blank">extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
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On 20/01/2023 22:53, bill w wrote:<br>
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<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:comic sans ms,sans-serif;font-size:large;color:#000000">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.</div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:comic sans ms,sans-serif;font-size:large;color:#000000"><br>
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<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:comic sans ms,sans-serif;font-size:large;color:#000000">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.</div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:comic sans ms,sans-serif;font-size:large;color:#000000"><br>
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<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:comic sans ms,sans-serif;font-size:large;color:#000000">Agree? bill w</div>
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<br>
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.<br>
<br>
However:<br>
<br>
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"? ;><br>
<br>
Ben<br>
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