Re: A Braid of Several Threads

Andrea Gallagher (drea@alumni.stanford.org)
Tue, 29 Jul 1997 13:45:53 -0700


At 07:01 PM 7/28/97 -0400, Dan Clemmensen wrote:
>Andrea Gallagher wrote:
>> And then there's basic prejudices. There's a class of idea that always
>> seems built on flimsy evidence and protected by claims of conspiracy...
>>
>The term "prejudices" has negative connotations. It sounds better,
>and is easier to defend, by saying "Occam's razor" or by noting that
>"Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof."

I'd like to stick to the term "prejudice". When debating such a theory, I
would definately use the better sounding terms. But here, among family, I
would like to admit that there are theories that I don't want to spend the
time on, even the time required to evaluate the relative simplicity of the
various arguments.

I have solid, rational support for my all my scientific prejudices. but
once I have built up my heuristics (i.e. stereotypes), I want to use them
with as little thought as possible.

Drea