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What does Occam's Razor have to do with making life decisions?

• virgilp 9y ago
  (I think you edited? People do have a tendency to over-apply it, from my observations. To extend from "chose the simplest model that explains something" to "when faced with a choice, chose the simplest solution") I wasn't trying to say that it's bad/ that's it's an useless mental model. I was trying to say "don't apply it to important life decisions, if anything, the opposite of it is true there".
  • peeters 9y ago
    Yes sorry I edited right after just to soften the tone. Yeah I think if anybody thinks that Occam's Razor is anything other than a way to give weight to two competing theories, they're misunderstanding it entirely. However if we were to apply the same logic to life decisions, you need to note that the premise of the Razor is "given the same outcome...". So even if you were to apply it to life decisions, it would say "given two paths in life that take you to the same place, choose the simpler one". Which I think can still be useful, even if a completely separate idea than Occam's Razor. Having kids and not having kids are not equal outcomes.
• aeorgnoieang 9y ago
  Do you not make decisions based on theories or hypotheses about how the world works or is?
  • Toast_25 9y ago
    Occam's Razor -> simplest explanation is likely the right one. You use big words and don't really say anything, therefore you're reeeeaaallllyyy smart.