Finding answers that are simple, easy and plain wrong!

It’s time to play another game. Even simpler than the one you played in my previous post. This time I am going to give you the answers, and a few more. You have to choose one among them.

Question 1: It’s raining heavily outside. Through the window, you see a flash of light. What?could it be?

A.??Lightening

B.????The headlights of an alien spaceship.

Question 2: You are shopping for a sanitizer in your neighbourhood shop. You don’t find a single bottle available. How come?

A.??No supplies to the shop

B.????Your enemy’s plan to stop you from using a sanitizer so you will contract corona.

Question 3: You are talking on your mobile. The call keeps getting cut. Why?

A.??Network problem.

B.????A gang of thieves have stolen all cell towers in your area and have sold it as scrap.

For all the three questions, your instinctive answer would have been ‘A’ In fact, the second option for all the questions would have sounded ridiculous to you.

Let me ask you something. Why couldn’t the right answer be ‘B’ for all three questions. Why couldn’t aliens have come in spaceship, stole all the towers and bought sanitizers to clean their hands as they fled?

?Very?much possible but that’s not how the human mind works. We prefer the easy to pick, quick to say options. We don’t like to study options, think about the possibilities and do deep analysis. We like to pick the easier one. Psychologists call it Occam’s Razor. The human mind prefers economy of effort and picks the simplest explanation as the best one. It’s an injunction not to make more assumptions that one absolutely needs. We all choose options and make decisions the easy way, the Occam’s Razor way. With good and, many times, bad consequences!

?Can you guess who may have proposed the concept of Occam’s Razor?

?Maybe, someone called Mr. Occam’s, you say.

?Well done. You just got done by Occam’s Razor. When the question was thrown at you, your mind didn’t want to think or analyse deep and just felt it would have been named after the guy who proposed it first. After all, that’s how most concepts are named, you think.

Welcome to Occam’s Razor. You just became its next victim!

Occom’s Razor was actually proposed in the fourteenth century by William, a philosopher and theologian, who lived in the English village called Occam’s. He was always referred to as the William’s of Occam’s. He urged people not to confuse their minds by making more assumptions than was absolutely necessary, in the search of answers. He said if there are two plausible explanations to describe something, pick the easier one. The concept became to be known as Occam’s Razor.

Occam’s is the town he came from, ok; what’s the significance of the suffix, razor? Well, no one knows why. Let’s assume it means cutting the unnecessary assumptions just like we shave needless facial hair!

We all use Occam’s Razor to make decisions. Policemen use it all the time. The simplest narration of the crime is good enough to frame charges. If there’s an easy suspect then he should be the perpetrator. Thrash him till he confesses or find a way to frame him. Case closed!

Doctors do it too. Pick the symptom that’s visible and easy to note and start treating it. If problem persists, refer him to a specialist. Occam’s Razor!

Think about some critical decisions you made and you will realize you use the very concept yourself. Next time you shave, you may want to think how many of those decisions went wrong. Just coz you used Occam’s Razor!