263 replies to this topic

[Spademan]

vbnautilus, on Saturday, February 4th, 2012, 9:24 PM, said:

Parsimony is just a preference. It doesn't really decide substantive arguments. The only case where it should really be the deciding point is when you have two theories that make exactly the same predictions. So I don't think it applies at all when you have "polar contradicting theories".

I forgot I was going to add a simple and clear edification concerning this and it got lost in my rush to ad absurdum. "Occam's razor, also known as Ockham's razor, and sometimes expressed in Latin as lex parsimoniae (the law of parsimony, economy or succinctness)".I don't know where you were going with the "parsimony is a just a preference" thing - it is the very foundation of Occam's razor. I pointed this out with a diatribe, but should have prefaced with basic semantical clarification.

[timwakefield]

Balloon guy, on Wednesday, February 22nd, 2012, 11:16 PM, said:

[img]http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/oLlhlnMKhUmyWHf7rSGu0Q--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9aW5zZXQ7aD01MTI7cT04NTt3PTM5OA--/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/AFP/photo_1329911233444-9-0.jpg[/img]

Does that poster say "LOL?" I also don't understand the significance of him carrying a soda bottle in each pocket, but I guess they're probably filled with gasoline because radical Muslims love explosions and detest safety.

[vbnautilus]

Spademan, on Friday, February 24th, 2012, 3:00 AM, said:

I don't know where you were going with the "parsimony is a just a preference" thing - it is the very foundation of Occam's razor.

Occam's razor just expresses a preference for parsimony. It's just a heuristic, a "best practice" kind of thing. People often misuse Occam's Razor as if it can settle an argument of substance, as if it tells you which explanation is more accurate. But in many cases, a simpler explanation is a less accurate one. In other words, an explanation is not better merely by virtue of being simpler. It must perform as well or better than a more complex explanation in order to actually be a better explanation.

[Spademan]

vbnautilus, on Friday, February 24th, 2012, 12:44 PM, said:

Occam's razor just expresses a preference for parsimony. It's just a heuristic, a "best practice" kind of thing. People often misuse Occam's Razor as if it can settle an argument of substance, as if it tells you which explanation is more accurate. But in many cases, a simpler explanation is a less accurate one. In other words, an explanation is not better merely by virtue of being simpler. It must perform as well or better than a more complex explanation in order to actually be a better explanation.

Ah. I misunderstood you. I'm with you.