Balance of Power

"The power of a scientific theory may be measured as a ratio: the number of facts that it explains divided by the number of assumptions it needs to postulate in order to do the explaining."

The above is from a recent article by Richard Dawkins, in response to comments made by Governor Rick Perry of Texas.  Dr. Dawkins often comes on a little strong, but what he mentions here is an interesting guideline.

In truth, Occam's razor postulates much the same, i.e., "simpler explanations are, other things being equal, generally better than more complex ones".  (This is directly from the Wikipedia article Occam's razor, which is actually a very detailed and interesting read, if you are so inclined.) 

However, Dr. Dawkins' restatement of Occam's razor  is put forth in a way I can better understand.  What he's saying, more or less, is that the explanation should not be more complex than the phenomenon. 

Dr. Dawkins' line of reasoning also protects against oversimplification, in accordance with Einstein, who put forth that, "Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler."

So, what is it that I want to say?

First, let me tell you a story about my general exams in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. 

I was actually presented with and asked to reconcile Occam's razor with Einstein's thoughts on simplicity.  I did pass my generals, but never really felt like I had addressed that question to my (or anyone else's) satisfaction.  Richard Dawkins does so in a single sentence.  Needless to say, I am impressed.

Above this, stands a clarifying moment.  This week, I helped a business student who needed her research paper to sound more like a research paper.  After piddling around with some sentence structure and word choices, I realized something very important.  Her thesis statement was too broad.  In fact, it was so broad that I really had no idea as to what her paper was actually about.

This is a problem that I have with my research.  Problems and phenomena are so big, its hard to begin simplifying down to a manageable question.  The question however, is where simplicity starts such that, by the end of the research, there is one powerful segment of theory.

These segments are how we build science.  Subsequent research will strengthen, repair, or demolish prior theories as appropriate.  That is what it means to make an original contribution.  Not to chaotically build some towering work from duct tape and Popsicle sticks, but to look at the bits and pieces of questions, theory, and phenomena that already exist and finding a way to make our mark on that world.

Science is so often extremely competitive, which is strange, because in the end, the whole of what we create really is collaborative.

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Segments Build Science