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Occams Razor Quotes

Browse 8 quotes about Occams Razor.

Occams Razor Quotes

“The complex order we now observe [in the universe] could *not* have been the result of any initial design built into the universe at the so-called creation. The universe preserves no record of what went on before the big bang. The Creator, if he existed, left no imprint. Thus he might as well have been nonexistent.”

God Universe Space Atheism Creation Physics Cosmos Cosmology New Atheism Big Bang Theory The Big Bang Occams Razor

Book:God: The Failed Hypothesis: How Science Shows That God Does Not Exist

Source: God: The Failed Hypothesis: How Science Shows That God Does Not Exist

“In order to avoid believing in just one God we are now asked to believe in an infinite number of universes, all of them unobservable just because they are not part of ours. The principle of inference seems to be not Occam's Razor but Occam's Beard: "Multiply entities unnecessarily.”

Universe Monotheism Parallel Universes Occams Razor

Book:What We Can't Not Know: A Guide

Source: What We Can't Not Know: A Guide

“Entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem. No more things should be presumed to exist than are absolutely necessary.”

Book:The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Source: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

“Dullards would have you believe that once you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth... but to a mathematical mind, the impossible is simply a theorem yet to be solved. We must not eliminate the impossible, we must conquer it, suborn it to our purpose.”

Impossible Moriarty Deduction Occams Razor

Book:Professor Moriarty: The Hound of the D'Urbervilles

Source: Professor Moriarty: The Hound of the D'Urbervilles

“Observations in cosmology look just as they can be expected to look if there is no God.”

God Science Religion Atheism Cosmology Occams Razor

Book:God: The Failed Hypothesis: How Science Shows That God Does Not Exist

Source: God: The Failed Hypothesis: How Science Shows That God Does Not Exist

“You have to disentangle the details. You have to hold up every one independently, and ask, "How do we know *this* detail?" Someone sketches out a picture of humanity's descent into nanotechnological warfare, where China refuses to abide by an international control agreement, followed by an arms race ... Wait a minute—how do you know it will be China? Is that a crystal ball in your pocket or are you just happy to be a futurist? Where are all these details coming from? Where did *that specific* detail come from?”

Rationality Occams Razor

Author:Eliezer Yudkowsky

“Two years later the logic of the struggle led (Pope) John XXII to excommunicate William of Ockham, the English Franciscan, known for his forceful reasoning as “the invincible doctor.” In expounding a philosophy called “nominalism,” Ockham opened a dangerous door to direct intuitive knowledge of the physical world. He was in a sense a spokesman for intellectual freedom, and the Pope recognized the implications by his ban. In reply to the excommunication, Ockham promptly charged John XXII with seventy errors and seven heresies.”

Medieval History Occams Razor

Book:A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century

Source: A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century

“In the twenty-first century, American democracy slit its wrists on Occam’s Razor, and no one answered for the blood.”

Book:They Knew: How a Culture of Conspiracy Keeps America Complacent

Source: They Knew: How a Culture of Conspiracy Keeps America Complacent