20 ideas
| 17070 | Coherence is consilience, simplicity, analogy, and fitting into a web of belief [Smart] |
| 17072 | We need comprehensiveness, as well as self-coherence [Smart] |
| 17073 | I simply reject evidence, if it is totally contrary to my web of belief [Smart] |
| 17077 | The height of a flagpole could be fixed by its angle of shadow, but that would be very unusual [Smart] |
| 17078 | Universe expansion explains the red shift, but not vice versa [Smart] |
| 17061 | Explanation of a fact is fitting it into a system of beliefs [Smart] |
| 17074 | Explanations are bad by fitting badly with a web of beliefs, or fitting well into a bad web [Smart] |
| 17076 | Deducing from laws is one possible way to achieve a coherent explanation [Smart] |
| 17071 | An explanation is better if it also explains phenomena from a different field [Smart] |
| 17062 | If scientific explanation is causal, that rules out mathematical explanation [Smart] |
| 17075 | Scientific explanation tends to reduce things to the unfamiliar (not the familiar) [Smart] |
| 22717 | Self-interest can fairly divide a cake; first person cuts, second person chooses [Poundstone] |
| 22718 | Formal game theory is about maximising or minimising numbers in tables [Poundstone] |
| 22719 | The minimax theorem says a perfect game of opposed people always has a rational solution [Poundstone] |
| 22720 | Two prisoners get the best result by being loyal, not by selfish betrayal [Poundstone] |
| 22721 | The tragedy in prisoner's dilemma is when two 'nice' players misread each other [Poundstone] |
| 22722 | TIT FOR TAT says cooperate at first, then do what the other player does [Poundstone] |
| 22723 | Do unto others as you would have them do unto you - or else! [Poundstone] |
| 7453 | Galen's medicine followed the mean; each illness was balanced by opposite treatment [Galen, by Hacking] |
| 17063 | Unlike Newton, Einstein's general theory explains the perihelion of Mercury [Smart] |