Occam's Razor

Philosophy: The Questions Every Other Field Has to Assume

Physicists assume observation reveals reality; doctors assume suffering is bad. None of those assumptions can be tested by the field relying on them — and someone has to examine them.

Hanlon's Razor: Most Slights Were Never Aimed at You

The meeting you weren't invited to has two explanations that fit equally well. Preferring the boring one isn't generosity — it's what happens when you count how much each explanation assumes.

Occam's Razor: Why Assumptions Are Expensive

The colleague who ignored your email is probably not conspiring against you. The principle behind that judgement is arithmetic, not optimism — and it is misquoted more than almost any other rule of thought.

Confirmation Bias: Why Research Can Make You More Wrong

When evidence agrees with us we ask what it shows. When it disagrees we ask what's wrong with it. Apply that second question to one side only and you can dismantle half the evidence without noticing.

Inversion: The Easier List Is the Backwards One

Ask how to be a good manager and you get admirable vagueness. Ask what would make you a terrible one and the answers are specific, short, and something you can act on tomorrow.