Dreaded_Anomaly comments on Natural Laws Are Descriptions, not Rules - Less Wrong

32 Post author: pragmatist 08 August 2012 04:27AM

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Comment author: Dreaded_Anomaly 07 August 2012 10:59:52AM 2 points [-]

According to Lewis, the laws of nature correspond to the axioms of the deductive system that best balances simplicity and strength. He does not provide a precise algorithm for evaluating this balance, and I don't think his proposal should be read as an attempt at a technically precise decision procedure for lawhood anyway.

This is just minimum message length.

Comment author: pragmatist 07 August 2012 11:11:43AM *  4 points [-]

I guess I would say that MML is one way of precisifying the general Lewisian view. But yeah, it's the same sort of idea, except Lewis's view is intended as an account of what laws of nature are, rather than a scheme for model selection. The plausibility of the view, of course, stems from the fact that model selection (and therefore law discovery) in science seems to follow the sort of criteria he describes.