Reaching for the Razor
I’ve been thinking about razors a lot lately. Not the hair management sort, but rather the metaphorical variety; the principles that cut away the unnecessary in trying to reach understanding. Occam’s razor states "the simplest solution is most likely the right one" and Hanlon’s razor says "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity". I think they need to be stropped up and applied now more than ever before. I have seen people I know succumb to a frightening malaise, and it isn’t covid 19. It’s the bizarre ideas that arise from the baroque intertwining of strands of conspiracy theory. I know otherwise rational, intelligent people who appear to believe that the virus has something to do with 5G, and/or that it’s part of a plan by Bill Gates to implant mind-control chips via vaccines. They point to the “heroes” who dare to speak the truth about the “fake” virus, linking to endless YouTube clips, all of which are about as scientifica...