[svlug] This mess is surely a conspiracy, my brain hurts and I don't like complexity or live long and prosper

[Michael Eager]

On 01/17/15 21:52, Karen Shaeffer wrote:
> On Sat, Jan 17, 2015 at 09:33:43PM -0800, Michael Eager wrote:
>> On 01/17/15 20:53, Karen Shaeffer wrote:
>>> On Sat, Jan 17, 2015 at 04:27:48PM -0800, Michael Eager wrote:
>>>> On 01/01/15 17:31, Karen Shaeffer wrote:
>>>>> Indeed, but Albert Einstein said keep it simple. Paraphrasing, Einstein
>>>>> said: Never construct a theory that is more complex than it needs to be.
>>>>> If you have two theories, and one is more complex than the other, while
>>>>> both fully account for all observed data, then always pick the simplest
>>>>> of the two.
>>>>
>>>> William of Ockham?
>>>
>>> Hi Michael,
>>> Certainly an interesting guy. But I am personally a big fan of AE. He had a
>>> lot of character flaws -- so he was human... If only AE had lived during our
>>> time, he would have had a lot of fun with his very own linux cluster. AE is
>>> an amazing human being in my opinion. He didn't have any computers. All he
>>> had was paper, pencil, and his imagination.
>>
>> Einstein was interesting and 1905 was an excellent year.  But he didn't
>> say what you attribute to him.
>>
>> Occam's Razor predates Einstein by some 500 years.
>>
>
> Hi Michael,
> Fair enough. I'm not suggesting AE was the first to make the observation.
> It's actually an intuitive notion that generalizes to all of life. And
> so, I doubt William of Ockham was the first to contemplate the notion
> either. But he does get credit for it in Wikipedia. (chuckles ;)
>
> Albert Einstein made the comment exactly as I stated it, in the context
> of developing theories and hypotheses. I don't think he cited Ockham
> either... I am certain he didn't consider his statement to be novel. He
> simply was stating the obvious.

Where did he make this statement, which was exactly as you stated?
Do you have a citation for this?


I'm pretty sure that Eistein was acquainted with Occam's Razor, even
if you aren't.  It appears that education was more comprehensive a
century ago.


-- 
Michael Eager	 eager at eagercon.com
1960 Park Blvd., Palo Alto, CA 94306  650-325-8077