I doubt it particularly matters which precise measure of simplicity I use, probably any reasonable measure will do. Consider the same with one hundred properties: X has properties 1 through 100. If Y has properties 12, 14, 15, 27, 28, 29, 43, 49, 62, 68, 96, and 100, but no others, then it will take more bits to say which properties X and Y have, than the number of bits it will take to specify that X and Y share all the same properties.
Of course, this seems to support Guest’s argument; and yes, once we see that X and Y share a property, the simplest hypothesis is that they are the same. Of course this can be excluded by additional evidence.
I doubt it particularly matters which precise measure of simplicity I use, probably any reasonable measure will do. Consider the same with one hundred properties: X has properties 1 through 100. If Y has properties 12, 14, 15, 27, 28, 29, 43, 49, 62, 68, 96, and 100, but no others, then it will take more bits to say which properties X and Y have, than the number of bits it will take to specify that X and Y share all the same properties.
Of course, this seems to support Guest’s argument; and yes, once we see that X and Y share a property, the simplest hypothesis is that they are the same. Of course this can be excluded by additional evidence.