IUBio

The fatal nicks in Occam's Razor

Jani Store store at cc.helsinki.fi
Wed Apr 15 12:52:44 EST 1998


: > 
: >  Inherent in Occam's razor is the fact that it WILL be wrong
: >  with a varying ratio, depending on the nature of the subject
: >  being studied.
I think it is doubtfull only when you use it to get off easily and
actually to not explain anything. But with any subject regardless the
nature we must start with what we know, not with what we don't know.

: Only if you take the extreme view.  The last word of Occam's Razor is
: important:

: Entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem. 

: Or the last three words in the English translation: "Entities should not
: be multiplied more than necessary".  It's not "take the least number of
: entities", it's "take the least number of *necessary* entities."

There are of course many different versions of the so called Occam's
Razor. But you bring up a good point. A simple amount of entities won't
leave us anywhere. Take divinities for example. One could "explain" the
same amount of things with either one big god or several less powerfull
gods. Still one god might contain a bigger assumption than several small
ones. I quess it depends on how powerfull your hypotheses are. But the
main focus must always be the effectiveness of the explanation. I mean 
people probably use a variation of Occam in their mind when they explain
strange optical phenomena with UFOs.

Still least number of necessary entities brings us at least some
universal benefits:
1) We don't make so much unnecessary predictions which turn up to be false.
2) When we go wrong, with a small amount of entities we have some idea
where to look for. Necessary entities are good because then we actually
can go wrong. In the long run it brings us explanative power.
3) When you know what went wrong it brings down great amount of very
complex possibilites. Basicly it then allows us to use the advice of good
old Holmes. If the answer is not any of the propable one's, the one left
no matter how unlikely is the right one.

-- 
So it shall be written - so it shall be done!
Soon there won't be any stars in the sky.



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