Occam’s Razor Does Not Work When Discussing the Targeting Program

Simplicity is pacifying, Reality is terrifying

Occam’s Razor (OR) is the problem-solving principle often summarized as "The simplest explanation is usually the best one." It’s attributed to William of Ockham, a 14th-century English philosopher and theologian (Wikipedia).

But explanation for what? Let me demonstrate to you that if there is an intelligent agent behind a phenomenon, Occam’s Razor is inappropriate to use.

Imagine you are playing poker. If a person picking up his or her cards smiles, as per Occam Razor, it would be appropriate to hypothesize that the player received a favorable set of cards. But would you? There are dozens of ways to manipulate your assumptions. And if you use Occam’s Razor you will leave the table empty handed.

Sometimes the principle is also described as “when hearing hooves, think horses not zebras”. This is actually contrary to the scientific method, which relies on generating multiple hypotheses and falsifying them one at a time, regardless of their complexity. If you follow this principle you wouldn’t even generate a seemingly more complex but potentially correct hypothesis. No hypothesis is off the table, until it’s falsified, or proven wrong.

This is what’s happening with Targeted Individuals. Some people deny our claims from the get go, they don’t want to hear it. They would rather hide their head in the sand. But some people are willing to examine the claims, only to come back with the Occam’s Razor argument.  But the principle doesn’t apply when there is an intelligent agent behind the phenomenon!

Please explain this to people who reject your claims on the basis of the OR principle. Tell them it’s a philosophical principle. In other words, it’s a way of thinking about the hypotheses, not the tool to conclude which hypothesis is true. For that, we have the scientific method.

OR principle is attractive to many because it offers an elegant explanation to “solve” a complex problem. But not in the case of Targeting, because intelligent agents are behind it. How do we know? The type of energy behind the “Havana Syndrome” attacks is a special “designed” form of energy. To design, you need intelligence.

Thank you for reading.