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My understanding is that the reason why the multiverse hypothesis (Everett interpretation) is popular with physicists is it simplifies the equations without los

My understanding is that the reason why the multiverse hypothesis (Everett interpretation) is popular with physicists is it simplifies the equations without losing predictive power. They actually have to add terms for the Copenhagen interpretation. I admittedly don't know the math well, but I think suggesting that it satisfies psychological needs is not generally accurate -- if anything, I think the average person finds the idea uncomfortable. Rather, it has legitimate explanatory and predictive power.

colordrops 5y ago
I hate when Occam's razor is applied to non-scientific domains, but this is clearly a scientific domain, and it applies here - multiverse theory is the simpler of the two explanations.
- coliveira 5y ago
  Occam's razor is not a law. It is just a heuristic to consider scientific hypothesis. If you believe something just because of Occam's razor (without any other evidence) I would say this is not very scientific.
  - medstrom 5y ago
    But you have to use it to counteract the intuition that only one universe is simpler. Occam's razor is a formal way to tell you, "hey your intuition is wrong, the other theory is the simpler one!" And for it to be useful to you, you can't just allow yourself to say "oh it is just a heuristic" when you don't like what it says. Instead you have to ask "what would I do if I deep down felt that many-worlds was simpler?" and act in accordance.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
  - colordrops 5y ago
    You are making a couple mistakes here. The first is that you are arguing with a straw man. I never said anything about it being a law. I also never said Occam's razor is science itself - I said that it's a tool to be applied in the scientific domain. The second mistake is that you don't seem to understand Occam's razor - yes, it is a heuristic, to determine which theory to weigh as more likely, due to limited time and scientific resources. Furthermore, the idea behind it is that, all else being equal, including available evidence, you choose the simpler theory. If you had evidence that differentiated the two, you wouldn't need Occam's razor.
  - layer8 5y ago
    Occam’s razor means to give less credence for a given theory to be true the more assumptions the theory requires. One can choose to believe in the theory that requires extra assumptions, but, well, that’s making assumptions.

colordrops 5y ago

I hate when Occam's razor is applied to non-scientific domains, but this is clearly a scientific domain, and it applies here - multiverse theory is the simpler of the two explanations.

coliveira 5y ago
Occam's razor is not a law. It is just a heuristic to consider scientific hypothesis. If you believe something just because of Occam's razor (without any other evidence) I would say this is not very scientific.
- medstrom 5y ago
  But you have to use it to counteract the intuition that only one universe is simpler. Occam's razor is a formal way to tell you, "hey your intuition is wrong, the other theory is the simpler one!" And for it to be useful to you, you can't just allow yourself to say "oh it is just a heuristic" when you don't like what it says. Instead you have to ask "what would I do if I deep down felt that many-worlds was simpler?" and act in accordance.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- colordrops 5y ago
  You are making a couple mistakes here. The first is that you are arguing with a straw man. I never said anything about it being a law. I also never said Occam's razor is science itself - I said that it's a tool to be applied in the scientific domain. The second mistake is that you don't seem to understand Occam's razor - yes, it is a heuristic, to determine which theory to weigh as more likely, due to limited time and scientific resources. Furthermore, the idea behind it is that, all else being equal, including available evidence, you choose the simpler theory. If you had evidence that differentiated the two, you wouldn't need Occam's razor.
- layer8 5y ago
  Occam’s razor means to give less credence for a given theory to be true the more assumptions the theory requires. One can choose to believe in the theory that requires extra assumptions, but, well, that’s making assumptions.