taryneast comments on Surface Analogies and Deep Causes - Less Wrong

17 Post author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 22 June 2008 07:51AM

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Comment author: Caledonian2 23 June 2008 12:19:02PM -1 points [-]

Caledonian: the Razor isn't intended to prove anything, it is intended to give an ordering of the probability of various accounts.

Yes, I know.

As has already been stated, you're using it improperly. The Razor does not lead to the conclusion that it is more probable that two things which share a property are identical than not. That is leaping to a conclusion not justified by the available data.

Weak assertions require little justification, strong assertions more. Given that two things share one property, there are many ways this could be the case without their being identical. The claim that they are identical is specific, precise, and excludes a vast amount of possibility space, and it needs strong support. That support is lacking.