Günther Greindl wrote: > Brent, > >> scientific theory. Occams razor is a vague desiderata. You can justify >> almost anything by choosing your definition of "complex", e.g. theists >> say, "God did it." is the simplest possible theory. > > no you can't: > http://www.overcomingbias.com/2007/09/occams-razor.html > > most relevant quote from the above post: > > This lets us see clearly the problem with using "The lady down the > street is a witch; she did it" to explain the pattern in the sequence > "0101010101". If you're sending a message to a friend, trying to > describe the sequence you observed, you would have to say: "The lady > down the street is a witch; she made the sequence come out 0101010101." > Your accusation of witchcraft wouldn't let you shorten the rest of the > message; you would still have to describe, in full detail, the data > which her witchery caused. > > Witchcraft may fit our observations in the sense of qualitatively > permitting them; but this is because witchcraft permits everything, like > saying "Phlogiston!" So, even after you say "witch", you still have to > describe all the observed data in full detail. You have not compressed > the total length of the message describing your observations by > transmitting the message about witchcraft; you have simply added a > useless prologue, increasing the total length. > > The real sneakiness was concealed in the word "it" of "A witch did it". > A witch did what? > > QUOTE END > > same goes for "god did it" > > Cheers, > Günther >
That's a computer scientist's idea of explanation, a definite description. In fact you can use an ostensive definition, "That.", while pointing and no description is needed. "The witch did it." is a casual explanation, not a description, and a casual explanation is often the kind needed since it tells you something you can do to change "That", e.g. "kill the witch". But I agree that the problem with God or The Witch as a theory is that they can explain anything and so fail to explain at all. Brent --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To post to this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
