Ockham's Razor

OKAY,OKAY, I got this one:Acadamy awards...if the lady did not use her razor (Occam,or Schick)and had that hint of lip hair....chances are she is a seat warmer    .   .   <];-)

Sometimes  we  don't  forget  the  principle  of  Ockham's  Razor,   we  just  refuse  to  accept  it.  Doing  the  right  thing  should  be  applicable  all  the  time,  for  everybody.   Except  the   clerk  gave  me  $100  too  much  change,  and  I'm  a  good  person,  if  I  keep  it,  half  will  be  spent  at  the  fundraiser  luncheon  for  relief.  And  logging  in?    The  blasted  computer  must  be  broken,   there  is  no  way  that  someone  as  smart  as  me  could  forget  his  identity  and  password.  After  the  new  computer  is  set  up,   a  purchase  which  violated  the  "no  more  big  purchases,  Christmas  was  exces,sive"  rule,   I  see  the  old  girl  pushed  to  the  side  like  a  jilted  lover.   She  is  still   running  on  fading  battery  power.   An  obscure  little  light  blinks  in  the  corner:   Caps  Lock  On.....   

I'll keep rolling along...drifting along with the tumbling tumbleweeds with my iPhone in my pocket, of course and my pocketsize version of Walden. 

and I've got nothing...

I wonder how Rube Goldberg would adopt Ockham's razor.

Ockham's Razor words fabulously well on a boat. If there is any electrically powered system that can be completely replaced by a human powered implement, then it is preferable to do so. Bilge pumps, for instance. There's farcically expensive electrical pumps out there, with fancy little "float" switches, and NONE of them promise to do the work any better than a fellow using the hand-lever on a solidly built manual pump. In fact, all electric bilge pumps have little blurbs in their text about pumping "rainwater or other light accumulations" of water. Well, hoorah; I can pump rainwater, too. And I AM pumping rainwater, since California is at present attempting to drown itself and my mast isn't yet sealed. I'm going to have the cleanest bilges in the harbor.

And electric winches! These are truly objects of derision in my sailing maleficarum. I've got three electric winches, all of them big beefy 24V widgets, that promise only to disappoint at some indeterminate and yet Murphian point in the future. Off they come. I'll sell them at a local chandlery, in trade for two three-speed manual winches that my 9 year old son can handle with one arm tied behind his back.

The same goes for the truly ridonkulous proliferation of air-conditioning and refrigeration systems that previously littered the boat. Four AC systems. Four refrigeration units. OUT (x8). Now I have all of that locker space for food and rum. Very important, the rum.

And fuel tanks! There had been an entire desk and cabinet built around an obviously custom-made 100g diesel tank! That's 100g in addition to an already 300g capacity. This sailboat of mine burns about a gallon of diesel in an hour, going 8 knots. I took out the cabinet and desk and TANK and I can still motor 2400 miles in a relative hurry. I bet if I lolligagged at 6 knots I could get 3200 miles. It's entirely likely that some wind should be found within a 2400-3200 mile radius, which I hear sailboats are awfully good at exploiting.

Ockham would be a sailor today, no question.

We love a man with clean bilges!!
 
Isles - have you posted pics of your new vessel? 

PS  I don't know if calamondin oranges grow in CA (they do in Florida) but they make a delightful substitute for a lime in a rum and tonic.....assuming you'd adulterate your rum in this manner.

Ockham's Razor has been dismissed as an philosophic conceit in many circles, and I find little use for it. Parsimony encourages us to constrain our world views, and to truncate our probative thinking. In a pre-scientific world, his notion probably served as a buffer against badly irrational thinking. But in a post-scientific world, Ockhamesque thinking has proven to be a huge intellectual liability.

The rise of jihadism, the basis of a failing economy, the phenomenon of failed nations, the underpinnings of decades of Detroit failures, the unwinding of Russian communism, why cancer elaborates: adequate explanations of these find no common cause whatsoever with how Ockham would have us to think. The more we examine, the more relevant and contributing factors we find.

Evaluations of the cases of the unhinging of Major Hasan and the underwear bomber show us that the upshots require non-parsimonious thinking for them to make any sense at all.

In one of the richest and most immediate failures of the Razor, we now know that we absolutely CANNOT explain obesity on the basis simplistic calories-in-minus-calories-burned thinking. We now know of many fudge-factors, including a developing concept of efficiency of calorie utilization, a recognition of the role of endogenous cannabinoids, the discovery of nutritional "thrift" genes that can be turned on and off, the antagoinzing roles of ghirellin and leptin, and the fact that adipose tissue itself is a teeming endocrine organ. All are necessary for an adequate explanation of obesity and how to manage it. Physicians often get a bolus-inculcation of Occam-style thinking in medical school, however, and this has led to an entire generation of doctors who, at worst, are abusive to their obese patients because these patients are assumed to be food addicts.

Ockham, in pace requiescat.

Jonathan  Isles:   You  have  problems   of  Titanic  proportions.....[GROAN}

  
Tommy Typical,

Don't know whether to thank you... or what.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37vqyQ8CIgU

STONEY:
Thanks, I love his boots.

This all makes me think of another expression...."When you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras!"  (unless you are actually in the african veld)

you can't see the forest if your a tree .. .. ..

Ah, Jonathan:  you and my husband are at the same helm, metaphorically speaking of course, when it comes to electric winches. 
 
We always had one, and he refused to use it as it was meant to be used, as I noted others used it:  at the helm.   He snapped that little winch control thing and it came up, him at the wheel, me lounging in the back seat with a drink in my hand, looking and behaving like Goldie Hawn in "Overboard."
 
But no.  I got the wheel, while he strode out to the bow,  waving his hand allegedly to get me to maneuver this boat of ours (which was now the size of the Titanic -- boats get larger, for me, the more trouble I'm in) this way or that -- and I'm thinking, I married Captain Queeg, and if we ever get out of this mess we're getting into, with me actually steering the darn thing and doing thread the needle between other Titanics, faster than I should but I wanted to get out into empty water -- I swore I'd never go out on the lake with him again.
 
I swore that every week of every summer, and we dropped anchor every week of every summer, and that entire confusing paragrapsh, above, was repeated every week of every summer -- and I'm still married to Queeg, and we still have our worst arguments about that electric winch. 
 
Meanwhile, happy bailing Jonathan.  Hang in there: coming soon to a horizon near you, is the sun, and clear blue skies.

And for youse guys who are just dying to say something:
 
It's electric winch, not electric wench.
 
Alas.

PARK:

Good for you, get em before they get you.

We do, however, have a store downtown with blackened windows that pobably sells electric wenches.

Might a corollary to Ockham's razor be - The longer the road one must traverse to defend a point of view, the less likely it is that that point of view is right? ... ... .. This describes many of my experiences; but I could be wrong and maybe even a wee bit in doubt. 

Well that's about as worthwhile a contribution as you'll get for this poor soul today so be well and I'll see you on the train tonight if you make it all the way back to the caboose.

It may be freezing rain everywhere else around my neck of the woods but we'll have the coal burning engine in front and a wood burning stove in the back.

PL: 
You do? 
You wouldn't happen to know the address right off the top of your head, would you?
 
(j/k)
 
Hi there, peterlake, and korthal!

"Physicians often get a bolus-inculcation of Occam-style thinking in medical school..."
 
Sorry but I've rarely met one who DIDN'T receive this style of training.   

just cut to the point......  i like it!

P4 - I don't know the address but its only a short four blocks away . . . ;)

exactly! .. .. .. a close shave is often good enough

If only our politicians would adopt the principals of Occam's Razor, if only...................

In aviation, my field, we were trained to keep it short for ATC reasons...assuming short was simple it worked in the air. When my career took me to Wa DC, my trained simple approach was in for a rude awakening. (Mr. Smith: "there is no compermise with truth, thats all I gotta say") It was there I learned that short or long, simple or complex; this ariel navigator got "keel-hauled" more than I care to mention in attempts to get one piece of administrative ruling through the FAA, past OMB, and then the AG, and each one of those critters of an alphabet soup forced my committee to put our words to the test of the general public including captains of industry (where I never did meet Joseph or Rory Armaugh) to some how garner consensus. Its not the words you choose, its the test you put them to? And when you test them in this melting pot called America...be prepared to walk in Edison's shoes before the light comes on.

Testing testing... "love". What does this one word mean?
testing testing..does this mic work....mayday mayday...Amelia

Andy I couldn't help myself on this cut and paste these excerpts from the news.   Simple

A simpler, less ambitious bill emerged as an alternative only hours after the loss of the party's crucial 60th Senate seat forced the Democrats to slow their all-out drive to pass Obama's signature legislation and reconsider all options.

Complicated

The "Closing" of Gitmo....This decision embodied what happens when Barack Obama's high hopes meet the complicated, harsh realities of the so-called "War on Terror."

Whats that joke where the out going boss writes three lettters of advise to his replacement...in the third envelope of advise it says write three letters....

As much is I loved the town and the experience when I was there...I am happy to see that chapter of my life benind me.  Politics, its a stressful way to make a living.  Even as President you have to knit one pearl two...to get anything done.

"I really like the photo at the top of the page" - Sweeney Todd

"sahve and a haircut ::double knee slap :: two bits" - unknown (at least to me)

I believe that Albert Einstein opined,"Things should be as simple as possible, but no simpler."  Took me a while to understand that one.  Then it all became clear as I was watching a political debate one evening.  Both candidatesa were lawyers.  Both candidates were very telegenic with Power Suits and Power Ties, and Power Haircuts, all the Right Stuff.  And both were experts at bloviating.  Bombastic bloviating, energetically saying nothing of substance.  Thousands of words, "full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."  Had I the technol;ogy to strip off all the window dressing of the arguments, there would have been about two minutes of burble left.  That's simple.  Hitting the MUTE button would have been too simple.  Just my dos centavos...

Speaking of the NFL playoffs, I think Ockham's Law is very much in evidence. They're keeping the duties simple for Mark Sanchez and it's paying off. Don't ask him to do any more than he can. So far, so good.

As for the razor.....I saw today where "Monique' (?)  went to the Golden Globes with unshaven legs and flaunted them for the photogs. Says she saves her 'pits' to eliminate stink problems, but prouldy refuses to shave her gams!

Oooops!  Too much wine....meant to say "sHaves her pits".......

As much water in, and then out, as yesterday. Today I improved my lot by putting a bottom screen strainer on the Suck-End of the hose. The Blow-End knows what it's doing already, so it didn't need anything.

I'll just pause there for a minute, because I know this audience, to let the ideas percolate...

The radar shows a wee bit more coming today, and then tomorrow the weather is supposed to be presaged by four blokes on ponies looking deathly sick and somewhat unpleasant - désagréable.

Swami, in finally getting to read back through all the post I caught another of your gems.  As Mozart in lots of notes I like lots of words...(outside of politics)  Take for example, Ugly man saves girl.  Its simple and tells what happened.OOOOORRRR  At the rescue of le Esmeralda the following excerpt: ""His Cyclops eye, bent down upon her, shed over her a flood of tenderness, of pity, of grief, and was suddenly raised, flashing lightning. At this moment when the women laughed and cried, the crowd stomped with enthusiasm, for that moment Quasimodo was really beautiful. Yes he was beautiful he that orphan, that foundling outcast; he himself august and strong; he looked in the face of society from which he was banished, and for he had made so signal a conquest; that human justice from which he snatched its victim; those judges, those executioners, all that forces of the king's which he, the meanest of mean, had foiled with the force of God! And then, how touching was that protection afforded by being so deformed, to a being so unfortunate as the girl condemned to die and saved by Quasimodo! It was two extreme miseries of Nature and Society meeting and assisting each other. "" One could argue "but I have no time for so many words".  And I would say the time is of this moment... to be enriched with words...thoughts from one to another.  Don't let it pass without notice.  Hugos moment has now been extended to 2010.  

First rule of thumb; cut the crap.

  
Isles~

Your "percolation pause" brought forth a memory of the wisdom of Bart Simpson:

"I didnt think it was physically possible, but this both sucks and blows."


And an unrelated bit of advice to a prominent political figure: when you're trying to get down, sound simple and folksy... don't make fun of a guy's pick-up. That was simple minded and probably didn't help.

 

No, it didn't help.
 
By the way, Way to go, Massachusetts.
I'm proud of you guys.
 
It's about time somebody had the guts to do what you did-- in one night.

Paul: Your post above is positively brilliant, and you clearly see the fact that Ockham would have envisaged a cold dessicated dry landscape for any trace of ideas. I am blown away by how compelling the example that you give is. Using this example from literature is ingenious, and I nominate your post for H.R. Adherents of Ockham would have no room for the richness of literature, or the depth of real philosophy, or for context. The dismal Ockham would have reduced Quaismodo to a mere guttural utterance or two.

Ockham's ideas were, by and large, Bergmanesquely funereal in their rootings. One of his great dingbat notions was the divine command theory, arguing that God dictated right and wrong, and that if God commanded murder then it must be OK. He then needed his Razor to whittle away the "silly" questions that came in the wake of his preachments (i.e., how would we know the mind of God? so we're to take you at your word that without God-based morality there would be no goodness in the world? so....you mean we should pay no regard to these pesky things called feelings?). These little frappes of Ockham zeitgeist are, to me, the landscape of Prozac-deficient fever dreams. A kind of Spock-induced froideur is how Ockham would have us reckon with all the good stuff, and, worse, all the bad stuff in life.

I should love to see Ockham forced to watch Kurosawa's Rashomon, and would love to see the neurons line-driving and pummeling each other until his paleness turns to red and then turns to livid, and the veins in his neck bulge.

Those who would wayfare with Ockham: caveat emptor. When Hugo's moment ends, let me off this bus.

And before I forget it, Ockham's way of thinking flies absolutely in the face of all scientific logic. By this I mean that there is no theory that is ever regarded as proven. A theory can only be corroborated or refuted. It can be disproven, but never proven. Recognizing this is the first baby step into critical thinking. That water is H2O is a gross oversimplification recognized only by pesky persistence in enquiry.

'nuff said

I thought it was theories that were generally regarded as proven (but of course recognizing that anything can be unproven, at any point) whereas hypotheses were the unproven statements of science and philsophy.
 
 

Cocktails are ready...come n get 'em

...And we are only filling the glass half full...you can decide if it is half empty

If I ask for a double, do I get a full glass?

Greetings Isles:  I was off the radar a while back so please tell me what kind of vessel is that in the posted photo.  What happened to the Pacific Seacraft?  Looks nice but where on earth do you find the time to slave?  I know it's tough with the kids.  Heck, my monkeys take ALL of my time!

Neptune:

Is it another Kharmann Ghia that you are looking at in NM (or AZ, can't remember)?

KSS: Howdy friend!  No, I'm actually trying to sell the Karmann Giha (the kids require much space).  Was looking at an older model (1991) Suburban.  Thats the last year they made the big ones.  The ones around here all all rusty. 

WILLIE TRASK: "Genius Has Its Limits ..."   THAT ....... WT all by itself is Limitless Genius !!!

P4:  You're pretty sharp, Lady ...  I was just at that moment ruminating about a rather electrifying wench I knew in Sigonella ... but your caveat stopped me cold .......
 
Must be the weather ... Good Stuff all 'round today ....... Everybody seems in Top Form ...