As I said to cousin it, the proof allows for different Razors depending on the specific definition of complexity. This is actually a good thing because we can learn from experience which definition to use in various contexts.
At which point, all the difficulty in deciding between theories is transferred to deciding between encodings. Yes we can learn over time which encodings work well in different domains, but at that point, you’re really just putting chunks of theory into your encoding choice.
There is a place for this kind of shorthand: I shouldn’t have to model people in detail to form a hypothesis explaining the presence of a building in a feild. But this is because I know people exist from vast amounts of other data, so I have a justification for the shorthand of ‘a human did it’ in my encoding. It should have a high complexity cost, but it comes packaged with tons of evidence so in most cases it’s practically free.
At which point, all the difficulty in deciding between theories is transferred to deciding between encodings. Yes we can learn over time which encodings work well in different domains, but at that point, you’re really just putting chunks of theory into your encoding choice.
There is a place for this kind of shorthand: I shouldn’t have to model people in detail to form a hypothesis explaining the presence of a building in a feild. But this is because I know people exist from vast amounts of other data, so I have a justification for the shorthand of ‘a human did it’ in my encoding. It should have a high complexity cost, but it comes packaged with tons of evidence so in most cases it’s practically free.