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From: teexmmo@isis.educ.lon.ac.uk (Matthew Moore)
Newsgroups: sci.skeptic,sci.bio,sci.chem,sci.physics
Subject: Re: Mysterious exploding fish
Summary: Use Occam's razor
Message-ID: <1990Jun28.153053.25399@isis.educ.lon.ac.uk>
Date: 28 Jun 90 15:30:53 GMT
Reply-To: teexmmo@isis.educ.lon.ac.uk (Matthew Moore)
Organization: Institute of Education University of London
Lines: 30

In article <25025@mimsy.umd.edu> mjr@umiacs.umd.edu (Marcus J. Ranum) writes:
>In article <1990Jun20.153345.18754@ccs.carleton.ca> mpg@doe.carleton.ca (Mike Gagnon) writes:
>
>>But this was never resolved! There was alot of speculation, alot of
>>theories, alot of dumb jokes, but no substantial explanation!
>
>The simplest theory I can come up with is:
>
>"the whole thing was made up."
>
>I wonder if Occam's razor holds in this case ?
>--

Occam's razor is a guide to scientific explanation, and was stated by
one William of Ockham in the thirteenth century. I read somewhere that
he originally said :

"do not needlessly multiply entities". 

In other words, when seeking to explain natural phenomena,
do _not_ invent or suggest causes due to extra beings or forces.
In general, it is often stated as :

"when choosing between explanations, it is sensible to choose the simplest."

It should be noted that Ocamm's razor is only a guide, not a law.

(As applied to the fish, all the warheads, build up of explosive gas
inside the fish and so on are 'needlessly multiplied entities' in my
view, whereas the electric cord is probably not).