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It's death by a thousand cuts, but somehow the coal fire contributes to not one of those cuts? I read the author's argument as "here are a few more of those cu

• Johnny555 8y ago
  But Occam's Razor says you don't need to add a thousand cuts to explain the sinking - just the one cut from running into the iceberg explains it.
  • tripzilch 8y ago
    No, Occam's Razor says that in the absence of more information, the hypothesis that makes the least amount of assumptions, is probably the best. Or something like that. What it really doesn't say is that, if there's evidence suggesting additional factors, ignore them and go for the simplest explanation that fits. That's just silly. It's not always the simplest explanation that is true. It's a heuristic to pick an explanation in absence of more information. Also it's still just a heuristic and Occam's Razor can get it wrong.