XPost: alt.folklore.ghost-stories, alt.out-of-body, sci.skeptic   
   XPost: bionet.neuroscience   
   From: david@edenroad.demon.co.uk   
      
   On Mon, 22 Jan 2007 17:08:40 -0800, raipanello wrote:   
      
   >   
   >> Now, given that, which is more likely: the dreaming mechanisms   
   >> occasionally fire out of sequence, or there is a class of invisible   
   >> entities which waits around sleepers and whispers in their ears?   
   >   
   > A good scientist would think that in the absence of conclusive   
   > experiments either way, both cases are possible.   
      
   I didn't say they weren't both possible - I just said that one was much   
   more likely than the other.   
      
   > A good scientist would   
   > also try to design experiments to disprove either hypothesis.   
      
   True, but a simple "first-pass" test of the "invisible entity" hypothesis   
   is performed nightly by billions of people.   
      
   > In fact, depending on the definitions of your words, both statements of   
   > yours can be absolutely accurate at the same time.   
      
   I don't think so - not without stretching the definitions way beyond   
   their normal meaning.  Would you care to explain what you mean?   
      
   > Occams razor is equivalent to a gambling approach to understanding   
   > reality because it is based on one's own perception and opinion of what   
   > is "simple".   
      
   Whilst I agree that it's usually difficult (to a point approaching   
   impossibility) to quantify the probabilities that the various components   
   of a complex explanation are true, the principle (that each element of a   
   complex explanation weakens the overall probability of the explanation   
   being true) is undeniable.   
      
   Occams Razor is not intended to replace experimentation.   
      
   > Sometimes complex is simpler than simple but we just don't   
   > get it.   
      
   I think you could phrase that better - as it stands it's nonsensical, by   
   definition.   
      
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