We live in a complex world full of extraordinary detail and interconnections. It is easy for us to get overwhelmed in an environment like this. But Occam’s Razor is the antidote. The brilliance of Occam’s Razor lies within its simplicity and efficiency. In a world full of noise, Occam’s Razor helps us make good decisions quickly.
KISS: Keep It Simple Stupid. That’s what Occam’s Razor reminds us to do. It effectively promotes the simple and keeps our decision-making process from getting bogged down. How? By championing the fact that simpler explanations are more likely to be true than complicated ones. And simple things are generally easier to understand and be useful than that which is convoluted. There are a lot of benefits to keeping it simple.
Complexity is seductive, however. We are often tricked into thinking that the more complex a narrative is and, by extension, our ability to understand and communicate it exhibits our impressive abilities. It doesn’t. At best, we look immature, like we are trying too hard. At worst, unnecessary complexity creates barriers and causes harm.
They muddy the water to make it seem deep.
Friedrich Nietzsche
Occam’s Razor helps us resist the siren’s song of complexity.
Origin of Occam’s Razor
Occam’s Razor is credited to William of Ockham, a medieval logician and theologian who wrote, “a plurality is not to be posited without necessity.” In today’s words, we should not prefer complicated reasons over simple ones unless really necessary. And it’s seldom necessary.
The idea that the simple should be preferred over the complicated was practiced long before William of Ockham transcribed it. Ancient Greeks spoke favorably of simplicity. Aristotle said, “The more limited, if adequate, is always preferable,” and Ptolemy shared, “We consider it good principle to explain the phenomena by the simplest hypothesis possible.” This practice was used for a long time before it was assigned a name.
The Exponential Asymmetry of Simplicity
Simpler explanations are more likely to be true compared to complicated ones. This is because the more parts an explanation contains, the higher the chance something is wrong with any given part. Also, when all the parts interact with each other, each interaction is a point that can be discredited. Each part that is added and is able to interact independently with all of the other parts grows the total number of interactions between the parts exponentially. Because adding parts increases the number of interactions between the parts in a nonlinear fashion, the likelihood of an explanation being wrong grows at an exponential degree.
Realizing the math behind the addition of complexity is crucial to realizing the importance of simplicity.
Occam’s Razor Improves Efficiency
Efficiency is something that everyone seems to be striving to achieve. We need it to get things done in a timely manner. There are many tools that help in this endeavor, but few are as powerful as Occam’s Razor.
While efficiency is a powerful phenomenon, being inaccurately efficient is not helpful. It’s like sailing quickly to the wrong port. We got to the destination quickly but it was the wrong destination. Occam’s Razor helps prevent us from sailing to the wrong destination, and it does so quickly. That’s the value of Occam’s Razor: it swiftly uses probabilities to deduce what is most likely to be right based on what is simple.
We rarely have all the information we need to make a completely informed decision in the timeframe allotted. Therefore, we need tools like Occam’s Razor to help us bridge the chasm of uncertainty in a timely manner by shying away from Ockham’s “pluralities”. Without this tool, we’d be stuck and overwhelmed.
Balance Simplicity with Nuance
Despite its usefulness, Occam’s Razor can mislead us into oversimplification. Don’t forget the ubiquity of nuance! The world is not black and white; viewing it as such paints an inaccurate picture. Some forms of complexity are required to have a basic understanding of the world around us. It’s when we indiscriminately strip it all away that we suffer.
Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler.
Albert Einstein (paraphrased)
It’s important to note that Occam’s Razor is not a catch-all tool. It’s a heuristic that acts as a shortcut to a likely conclusion. But likely does not mean absolute. Randomness surrounds us and influences many different outcomes. There are infinite shades of gray and turning a blind eye to them is counterproductive.
A tool is best employed by capable users in the right situations. Occam’s Razor is no different. If taken to extremes, it will be a hindrance. Or, even more insidiously, it can be used incorrectly but still work. That reinforces the poor employment of this mental model, building a false sense of confidence that might backfire on us at precisely the worst time. The effectiveness of Occam’s Razor is dependent on how we use it.
The Effects of Occam’s Razor on Our Latticework
Occam’s Razor is a powerful mental model on its own, but it impacts other parts of our latticework as well. The effectiveness of our latticework strengthens from understanding these interdependencies.
Probabilistic Thinking
Probabilistic thinking is a method for determining the likelihood of something being true. Because Occam’s Razor builds off the fact that simple explanations with fewer components are more likely to be accurate than complex ones, these two mental models go hand-in-hand.
The Map is not the Territory
We construct and use maps to navigate the world around us. Maps are, by definition, simplifications of what they represent. If maps were not simplified, we could not use them. Simplicity improves usability. Occam’s Razor, the champion of simplicity, aids in the creation of useful maps.
Conclusion
Occam’s Razor is a powerful tool that’s applicable in many situations; it is especially effective when used to help make time-sensitive decisions. This has been understood for millennia, dating back to ancient Greece. And it’s still useful today. In a world inundated with distractions, we need tools to block out the noise.
Occam’s Razor is one such tool. It acts as a filter removing unnecessary information that would otherwise bog down our minds. But it has its limitations. It is a heuristic. A shortcut. It only points out what is likely to be correct in most circumstances. It is not absolute.
Occam’s Razor is simple itself. Remember: when there are competing theories, the simplest explanation should be preferred.
