Bonus points if it’s usually misused/misunderstood by the people who say it

  • lucullus@discuss.tchncs.de
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    21
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    1 year ago

    Occam’s razor, because it seem it is often used wrong by using it for just shutting down possible explanations. Typically noone mentions, that this is about guessing probabilities without prior knowledge and not a way to completely ignore an explanation.

    • Occamsrazer@lemdro.id
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      5
      ·
      1 year ago

      Yes, it’s a way to move forward with incomplete knowledge, when you need to make assumptions regardless of which theory you go with. There will always be an asterisk by theories or decisions made with this method, because one of more of the assumptions themselves could later turn out to be incorrect, thereby invalidating your decision. Occams razor is very misunderstood and used or quoted incorrectly all the time.

      • lucullus@discuss.tchncs.de
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        1 year ago

        In fictional media I’ve mostly seen this the other way round. Like "I don’t want to believe this expanation, so it should not be considered "