Another 'I thought everyone knew that' moment

[werewolf_song]

Another time I'm not sure if something's common knowledge or not: Two people who usually know stuff had never heard the term "Occam's razor" before, though I thought it was something pretty much everyone had heard. Do you know the term, and if so, do you expect that pretty much anyone would?

Comments

[lupine52]

I sure do, it was very important in Chemistry though I still tend to go overboard in my analysis sometimes of predicting how a reaction will work out.

[precious_muse]

What, that principal that ususally the best answer is the simplest one? I didn't really "know" it (I may have heard of it and forgotten it) until it was mentioned a couple times on "The Big Bang Theory." Or maybe it was "Bones." It was probably both. Anyway, I'm sure the general populice will also learn it from a source like that.

[lycoris]

I've heard the term before - I forget where I first heard it but noticably, it comes up on House once or twice! (it also popped up in my Philosophy degree but I wouldn't expect too many people to have been around for that!) I don't think I'd expect everyone to know it as both of the places I can remember hearing it are vaguely "specalised" though.

[not_a_reptile]

Occam's razor makes me think of the "Ancient Aliens" meme as an example of the opposite of Occam's razor.

http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/ancient-aliens

[duathir]

Yes, I know the term, and since it is so famous and fundamental a precept of scientific thought, I would expect it to be familiar to everyone who passed their high-school science courses. However, it may be my expectation is unreasonable, in light of the countless high-school graduates who appear to have never heard of either critical thinking or the scientific method.