Occam's razor questions?

Question

Before I begin, please let me note my knowledge of Occam's razor mostly comes from hearsay and some internet articles, so forgive me if I am misinterpreting anything here.

1. To my knowledge, Occam's razor assumes a negative is always true unless its corresponding positive can be proven. But how does it deal with (or is it even applicable at all?) with statements/announcements? Are all statements/announcements assumed to be genuine unless contradicted? Or the opposite?

For example, say NASA says that aliens exist. Do we assume this is true or false, if no evidence is provided, according to Occam's razor?

2. Since it always assumes that something "does not exist", or "has not occurred", unless there is any evidence, how does it deal with situations where something could have easily occurred or not occurred, but we can't tell for sure what specifically happened?

Example, Mark wakes up and his parents go to work. In the evening, his parents come back home, and don't know if Mark ate anything that day or not (but easily could have) before they ask him. Does Occam's razor by default assume that he did not eat anything?

That's what I would assume, but it doesn't seem logical.

Or is Occam's razor not applicable in such a situation at all?

Thank you.

Answer 1

well it deals with prior details,



nasa has never admitted aliens exist , so hearing it did we will assume its a hoax until verified by a trustworthy source





depends if mark usually ears something before his parents come home, but generaly ye they will assume he has not eaten yet

Answer 2

Occam's Razor = All issues being equivalent, an common clarification is greater suited than a greater complicated one = that's the regulation of economic equipment and is used interior the medical approach, extremely in physics. i've got under no circumstances study on right here any atheist ever even use the term 'Occam's Razor' - no longer to indicate call it bullplop! easily what you surely mean to slate is Pascal's wager; that's continuously ridiculed by potential of atheists right here without ever offering a valid argument against it. merely as you're doing right here now. i think of you have have been given merely a teeny bit mixed up and at a loss for words on your keenness to splurge your bile this nighttime.

Answer 3

Your premise about Occam's razor is incorrect. It doesn't assume the negative to be true. Occam's razor simply says that the simplest solution is probably the correct one.



In your example, the absence of reliable evidence to confirm that there are aliens would mean the simplest solution to that question is to assume that there are no aliens.



If there are two equally simple solutions, Occam's razor does not address a choice between them. In fact, Occam's razor is only a philosophical principle, not a rule of scientific logic or basis for a scientific result. In other words, it's a rule of thumb.

Answer 4

Occam's? I use Occam's razors every morning. Best and closest damn shave you'll ever get.

Answer 5

yes