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From: jim@ISM780B.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.philosophy
Subject: Re: Created Yesterday
Message-ID: <27500077@ISM780B.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 29-May-85 22:59:00 EDT
Article-I.D.: ISM780B.27500077
Posted: Wed May 29 22:59:00 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 1-Jun-85 11:37:57 EDT
References: <2163@decwrl.UUCP>
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Nf-ID: #R:decwrl:-216300:ISM780B:27500077:177600:1916
Nf-From: ISM780B!jim    May 29 22:59:00 1985


>> > John Williams,
>> >     Can you prove to anybody that you were not created yesterday at
>> > 12:01 along with the rest of the universe, fossil records, your so-called
>> > "memories" and everything else? ...
>> >                                                     Rick
>>
>> Of course, there's this guy called Occam who has this great talking
>> electric shaver that says:  given two scenarios, start with the one with the
>> fewest assumptions.
>
>Rick was talking about proof, not assumptions. (Can one prove anything
>about what already exists?)

There are no proofs which do not start from assumptions (axioms).
Occam's Razor is a fundamental principle of efficiency.
By choosing the simplest model that does not contradict existing information,
you will have the simplest logical structure, the fewest steps in your proofs,
and the best chance of not making errors.  People who have a good grasp
on the handle of Occam's Razor produce better results, both aesthetically
and operationally (i.e., things they build work, their theorems aren't
later disproven, they do better in the stock market or Vegas, etc.).

Of course John or anyone else cannot prove they weren't created yesterday.
Once you have passed a certain level of philosophical sophistication,
you stop asking that sort of question.  Rather, you recognize that both
models are consistent with our observed reality, but that the "God" model
is kind of boring, whereas the inductive model is deeper and more demanding.
Some people really like to solve puzzles, so they put a lot of effort into
trying to figure out how the whole world as we observe it might have arisen
from structurally simple origins tranformed by uniform rules.
Other people don't, so they say "God did it".  This reduces insomnia.
(I will tell you one thing though; if I were God, I would think a lot more
highly of those who didn't believe in me.)

-- Jim Balter (ima!jim)