"Why Occam's Razor" can be viewed at
http://parallel.hpc.unsw.edu.au/rks/docs/occam/
The abstract:
"Ensemble theories have received a lot of interest recently as a means of
explaining a lot of the detailed complexity observed in reality by a vastly
simpler description ``every possibility exists'' and a selection principle
(Anthropic Principle) ``we only observe that which is consistent with our
existence''. In this paper I show why, in an ensemble theory of the
universe, we should be inhabiting one of the elements of that ensemble with
least information content that satisfies the anthropic principle. This
explains the effectiveness of aesthetic principles such as Occam's razor in
predicting usefulness of scientific theories. I also show, with a couple of
reasonable assumptions about the phenomenon of consciousness, the linear
structure of quantum mechanics can be derived. "
----- Original Message -----
> At 15:16 27/01/04 +1100, Russell Standish wrote:
> >A brief heads up that my paper "Why Occam's Razor" will appear in the
> >June issue of Foundations of Physics Letters. The full reference is:
> >
> >Standish, R.K. (2004) ``Why Occam's Razor'' Foundations of Physics
> >Letters, 17, 255-266.
> >
>
>---------------------------------------------------------------------------
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> >A/Prof Russell Standish Director
> >High Performance Computing Support Unit, Phone 9385 6967, 8308 3119
(mobile)
> >UNSW SYDNEY 2052 Fax 9385 6965, 0425 253119 (")
> >Australia R.Standish.domain.name.hidden
> >Room 2075, Red Centre
http://parallel.hpc.unsw.edu.au/rks
> > International prefix +612, Interstate prefix 02
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Received on Wed Jan 28 2004 - 00:21:20 PST