Comment by llamageddon01 on 15/06/2022 at 11:21 UTC*

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View submission: The NewToReddit Encyclopaedia Redditica v2

Alder’s Razor aka Newton's Flaming Laser Sword

Newton's Flaming Laser Sword is a saying commonly known as an “Eponymous Law”, but more accurately as a Philosophical Razor[1] that reads ”If something cannot be settled by experiment, it is not worth debating.”[2].

1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophical_razor

2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Alder#Newton%27s_flaming_laser_sword

Applied broadly, this particular principle suggests that you should generally only focus on problems that can be solved by a combination of experimentation and reasoning, and not just argumentation, and if it’s possible to perform an experiment to settle a matter you should. This will save you from wasting a lot of time on (currently) unanswerable questions and allow you to make progress faster. For example; engaging in untestable speculation is a waste of time when there’s a simpler solution:

Which horse is faster? Race them.
How many teeth does your dog have? Count them.
Which MMA fighter is better? Make them fight.

**It’s called what now?**

Mike Alder was not shy of revealing the reasoning[3] behind this unusual title:

3: https://philosophynow.org/issues/46/Newtons_Flaming_Laser_Sword

“All good principles should have sexy names, so I shall call this one Newton’s Laser Sword on the grounds that it is much sharper and more dangerous than Occam’s Razor. In its weakest form it says that we should not dispute propositions unless they can be shown by precise logic and/or mathematics to have observable consequences. In its strongest form it demands a list of observable consequences and a formal demonstration that they are indeed consequences of the proposition claimed. Those philosophers who followed Newton became known as ‘scientists’ and eventually Karl Popper came along and codified the practice of these heretics in his famous falsifiability demarcation criterion.”*

Just as spectacularly, the opposite of Alder’s Razor is called “Alder's Duct Tape”. Also known as Alder's Krazy Glue or Alder's Stapler, or even “Newton's Arc Welder”, this is pretty much the exact opposite of Newton's Flaming Laser Sword - “Let’s not expose the debate so experiments will be unnecessary or useless, or conversely let’s debate the newest documented experiments just to suggest more experiments.” This is only used ironically.

While a philosophical razor can be a useful mental shortcut that allows you to make decisions and solve problems quickly and easily, it is not an unbreakable law or rule, and Newton’s Flaming Laser Sword excludes a lot of things (anthropology, history, politics, ethics etc.) and should therefore be used very cautiously. Not everything is observable, measurable, repeatable, testable etc. so as to be fit for the scientific method.

**Newton's Flaming Laser Sword on Reddit**

Reddit, as you would expect, takes Newton's Flaming Laser Sword Very Seriously Indeed™[4] and it has been the subject of debate[5] in many different subreddits[6].

4: https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/2v44kk/til_newtons_flaming_laser_sword_is_a/

5: https://www.reddit.com/r/askphilosophy/comments/aqyu45/what_do_philosophers_think_of_newtons_flaming/

6: https://www.reddit.com/r/DebateReligion/comments/12ec45/to_all_where_do_you_stand_on_newtons_flaming/

*Because there is a Subreddit for everything:**

*See Also:**

Cognitive Biases and Logical Fallacies[7]
Confirmation Bias[8]
Eponymous Laws[9]
Internet Adages[10]
Logical Fallacies[11]
Pedant; Pedantry[12]
Philosophical Razors[13]

Comment by llamageddon01 on 15/06/2022 at 11:21 UTC*

Alder’s Razor *aka* Newton's Flaming Laser Sword

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Alder’s Razor aka Newton's Flaming Laser Sword