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Pisau Cukur Ockham


I watched the movie "Contact" played by Jodie Foster tonight. And one phrase caught my attention and if you don't mind, I would like to share it with you guys.

The phrase is Ockham's Razor. It says that "All things being equal, the simplest solution/explanation tends to be the best one"

Basically it suggest that the simpler the solution/explanation, the better it is. For example, you saw your current girlfriend dating another handsome guy in a mall when she actually know that you will be shopping at the mall that time.

Natural response would be -
  • "Is she cheating on me?"
  • "But she knows that I will be shopping here today, maybe that's her relative"
  • "Maybe she knows I'll be here, and she wants me to see her date to make me jealous"
  • "Still, she should know that I'm not easily jealous, so she may want to spice things up with me, introducing jealousy"
  • "Or did she trying to convey a message to take care of her better or else?"
The question will go on, until you forgot that magggi mee you are supposed to buy. The fact is all you know for sure is just that she went out with another guy. That's it. All else are just assumptions. This is the simplest explanation you can come up at the moment. And according to Ockham's Razor, this is the best explanation. It may not be the truth. But it is the best. So you may ask, why is this important? It is important because assumption is a very dangerous thing to have in a relationship. The danger is when you assume something totally out of emotion and you act on it.

The girl may be spending time with her beloved brother who just came back from oversea. Where as you may already start writing a break-up later that very moment out of anger. So in short - Never ever assume in a relationship. If you must, don't act on just mere assumption.

Actually the phrase is widely used in engineering, to provide the simplest solution with minimal assumption. I just find applying it in real life to be more interesting :)

--------------- Personal Note --------------------------
Tomorrow, I will only be able to post from email, as I'm going back to KL.

It may not be that important, but I learn the "No-Assumption-Rule" from real life experience. For my wife, who may be reading this, No.. it's not us. I've made some mistake like losing a friend because of assumption. You remember Nur Syikri I told you before. Ya well, at one point, I had made assumptions that he is talking behind my back about my secrets (way back in the 90s) hehe. Because of that alone, I started not contacting him. He may or may not be giving out my secrets, but I had act on it. And it cause me a very good friend. hmm do you guys ever did the same mistake? share it here.. so we may learn from each other.

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Thursday, June 14, 2007 additional ideas