‘Life Is Simple’ Review: A Blade to Shave Away Error

If a friend tells you “I’ve seen a UFO!” what would you think? It might have been an alien spacecraft—or perhaps the friend was mistaken. The first possibility requires numerous unproven assumptions about extraterrestrial life; the second is consistent with what we know about human fallibility. The 14th-century Franciscan friar William of Occam was never troubled by flying saucers, but he did see the importance of eliminating unnecessary assumptions—the principle known as Occam’s Razor. It forms the central theme of Johnjoe McFadden’s “Life Is Simple,” a tour through two millennia of scientific discovery.

Mr. McFadden is professor of molecular genetics at the University of Surrey in England. His interest in Occam was sparked by a daily commute which took him past the village of Ockham, where William was born, probably around 1287. Little is known about William’s early life, but by his thirties his writings on philosophy and theology were widely read—and highly controversial.

from Hacker News https://ift.tt/3FCxTzR