what is Occam’s Razor?
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It is a rule of thumb used when evaluating different hypotheses. It states that _all things being equal_ one should _prefer_ the simplest explanation. So, when you have evidence that equally supports two different hypotheses, you should work with the one that has the least number of variables or assumptions first, only moving on to the more complex one when the simple one is disproven.
For example, if you walk into your kitchen and a glass of water is spilt, it could either be due to:
A) Your cat jumped on the counter and knocked it over
B) Someone broke into your house, leaving no trace, and dumped the water before leaving.
The Razor would say that the cat hypothesis is preferable, as there are far fewer assumptions required for it to be true.
Now, this doesn’t mean that the cat hypothesis **is** true – you need more testing and evidence to demonstrate that. All it means is that until new evidence comes along, you should go with the cat hypothesis because it is simpler.
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