Pluralitas non est ponenda sine neccesitate.

My job requires that I troubleshoot electro-mechanical systems in a nuclear power plant. I have been doing this for a while and find it quite enjoyable. It’s not just the work that I enjoy but the interaction of people in stressful situations where they must think rationally to progress toward a solution to the problem. People have a tendency to overcomplicate things and build assumptions upon assumptions. Similarly, people seem reluctant or at times even incapable of letting go of an idea or a solution in order to grasp a new, more rational one. Instead they will devise a system of hypotheticals that seem to cast a favorable light on their original thought process. This not only extends the amount of time it takes to reach a reasonable solution to the problem but frustrates the process to the point of exhaustion.
I tend to cling to Occam’s Razor as a way of keeping my thought process clear and on track. I return to it often in my work when formulating a troubleshooting approach.

Occam's razor states that the explanation of any phenomenon should make as few assumptions as possible, eliminating, or "shaving off," those assumptions that make no difference in the observable predictions of the explanatory hypothesis or theory. In short, when given two equally valid explanations for a phenomenon, one should embrace the less complicated formulation. This is often paraphrased as, "All things being equal, the simplest solution which makes the fewest assumptions tends to be the best one."

Recently, I have begun to apply Occam’s Razor to more than technical situations. It pulls me away from the worry that clouds life when you are continuously thinking, ”What if…”It also allows me to not demonize those with a different point of view. If someone opposes me on a certain point I could easily discount them by saying they don’t have the right information or they only disagree out of spite, surely any rational person would see things my way, right? BUT Occam demands that I treat all other views as plausible as mine providing they are based on fact not assumption.

I wish that Kevin McCullough would have used this trusty Razor while writing this piece on Rick Warren and Barak Obama. In this diatribe McCullough demonizes both men for doing what more leaders in this country should do, uniting against poverty and sickness. This was the same tactic that was used by Jesus Christ. Jesus personally fought poverty and sickness to bring comfort and health to people that mattered only to Him and he didn’t worry at all about with whom he would be “associated” in this act. Occam says that the solution is as plain as the nose on our collective faces but the reason we can’t find it is because we all are choosing to turn our eyes from the problem in a trance of self importance. That’s the way I see it anyway.