As science advances, does Ockham's Razor still apply?

[Nevilledog]

Link to tweet

https://www.salon.com/2021/06/13/as-science-advances-does-ockhams-razor-still-apply/

William of Ockham is the medieval philosopher who gave us what is perhaps the world's only metaphysical knife. Raised by Franciscan friars and educated at Oxford in the late 13th century, he focused his energies on what can only be described as esoterica, topics spanning theology and politics. In service of this occupation, he clashed with Pope John XXII and was excommunicated by the Catholic Church.

Ockham's exploration of the philosophical concept of nominalism and his preference for parsimony in logical arguments gave rise to the concept of Ockham's Razor (sometimes spelled "Occam&quot . Stated plainly, the Razor asserts that if two models equally explain a scenario, the simpler of the two is more likely.

Remarkably, this principle has been applied and contested for seven-hundred years, though the metaphor of the Razor itself surfaced after Ockham's death. Yet the boundaries of science have expanded into the territories of quantum mechanics, human behavior, and artificial intelligence — complicated fields, where "simplicity" may not always apply. To that, one might reasonably ask if Ockham's Razor is still a useful principle when it comes to science. In other words: Is the Razor still sharp?

The Value of the Razor

In his book "The Demon-Haunted World," the late Carl Sagan introduces a thought experiment of a dragon in his garage. When Sagan convinces someone to come look at the dragon, the visitor opens the garage door and finds nothing there. Sagan then counters that "she's an invisible dragon," and, naturally, cannot be seen. The visitor suggests setting up an infrared camera to catch the thermal emissions from the dragon's breath, but Sagan's dragon gives off no heat. The visitor then suggests layering the floor with flour to detect the movement of the dragon, but Sagan's dragon floats serenely, leaving no footprints nor stirring the air. At this point, most would agree with the visitor's logical conclusion: Sagan's invisible, floating, thermally-neutral pet dragon is a fiction. Ockham's Razor cuts through the chaff of Sagan's dubious explanations to suggest that given the state of the evidence – an empty garage – the most prudent interpretation is that there is no dragon.

*snip*

[Binkie The Clown]

1. At least we know Ockham's aftershave still works. nt

[Scrivener7]

2. Most overused phrase on the internet.

[MissMillie]

3. I think "equally explain" are the operative words

More often than not, one explanation will be more likely because... the scientific knowledge behind it will BETTER explain the situation.

[paleotn]

4. Not always right. Most LIKLEY to be right

The only things that are always are death and taxes. And yes, the razor still works.

[Ms. Toad]

5. I can definitively say it does not apply to medical maladies in our family -

We have a number of zebras and a few unicorns that have appeared when doctors have insisted it must be a horse making those hoofbeats. (The medical equivalent of Occam's razor.)

My daughter and I have 3 rare diseases (unicorns) between us: mysofibrosarcoma (4/10,000,000), PSC (5/1,000,000), IBD in a 5-year old (5/1,000,0000) {the IBD and PSC are related, but PSC is an uncommon companion disease to IBD) and one uncommon (zebra) unrelated one (VTOS (3/10,000 - and rarer at the time I initially developed it)

My standard response is that our family raises zebras and unicorns so they had better consider that aren't horses as primary options.

[LunaSea]

6. The razor makes more sense than what Ockham actually said.

Here is what he wrote, according to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy:

"Nothing ought to be posited without a reason given, unless it is self-evident or known by experience or proved by the authority of Sacred Scripture."



https://boingboing.net/2013/02/11/what-ockham-really-said.html

[kentuck]

7. Very interesting.

What is the dragon the analogy for?

[Silent3]

8. One has to be careful how one take the idea of "simplest"

And, in fact, a much better formulation of Occam's Razor is "Entita non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatum", or "Entities should not be needlessly multiplied".

In this case, an "entity" is any explanatory factor, any source of causation or motivation.

[Wounded Bear]

9. Occam's Razor is a philosophic tool, not a scientific one...

[hunter]

10. Isaac Newton explained the motions of the planets pretty darned well.

Newton's laws of motion can take a spacecraft to Mars.

But it's not the entire answer. Newtonian physics don't explain everything we observe in this universe..

Einstein will get you to Mars as well but the math is not as simple. It does explain more.

Stupid people believe their simple answers to complex problems are sound.

Intelligent people know that most complex problems are going to require complex solutions.