Occam’s Hatchet

We all know about Occam’s Razor. It’s a tool for eliminating elaborate, unlikely explanations, and it goes something like this: 

When two competing theories of causation exist, the simplest explanation is likely the correct one. 

This is extremely useful for dispelling crazy conspiracy theories, or for overcoming complicated attempts to justify outdated ideas in the face of new information. But sometimes, human nature tricks us in the other direction. 

In our desire to have simple, certain answers, we oversimplify complex systems. This is especially true when we look for causes of human behavior. We ascribe single motivations to actions that have multiple conscious and unconscious roots. Or we look at social trends and ascribe them to isolated factors, instead of  seeing them in the messy, chaotic context that society inevitably presents. 

The truth is, some things are simpler than they seem, and some are more complex. The way we see them often has more to do with our preconceived notions and biases than with their actual nature. And when our wish for the certainty of a simple answer overrides our need to understand the messy truth, Occam's Razor becomes a hatchet, and the cut is neither clean nor precise.