40+ ‘Philosophical Razors’ That Will Help You Make Better Decisions

What is a philosophical razor?

It’s a decision-making framework that allows you to eliminate low-probability conclusions, and come up with better decisions quicker.

However, note that these are just rules of thumb and are not accurate in every situation.

Now, let’s get into it!

Occam’s Razor: The simplest explanation is usually the better one.

Alder’s Razor (Newton’s Flaming Laser Sword): If experiments cannot answer something, it’s not worth debating.

Hume’s Guillotine: An OUGHT cannot be derived from an IS. (We ought to eat meat because humans are meat-eaters. This assumption is not 100% true, since it implies that ‘what we evolved to, is the best way to do things’.)

Sagan's Standard: Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.

Hitchen’s Razor: What can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence.

Popper’s Falsifiability Principle: Scientific claims must be falsifiable.

Grice’s Razor: In conversation, it is better to respond to what someone implied, rather than taking what they literally said, since people are bad at expressing themselves.

Einstein’s Razor: Make things as simple as possible, but no simpler.

Hanlon’s razor: Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.

Feynman’s Razor: If you can’t explain a topic to a 5-year-old, you don’t understand the topic. Complicated jargon indicates a lack of understanding.

Gell Mann’s Razor: Assume every media article contains a % of false information.

Russell’s Teapot: The philosophic burden of proof lies upon a person making empirically unfalsifiable claims, as opposed to shifting the burden of disproof to others (If I claim that there is an undetectable teapot flying in space, the burden of proof lies upon me. And my belief cannot be justified by the fact that it cannot be disproven).

Naval’s Razor: if you can’t decide between 2 choices, take the path that’s more difficult/painful in the short term

Discomfort Razor: The more uncomfortable the activity, the more likely it will lead to growth

Tarwell’s Razor: High emotion leads to high bias. Where there is passion, the truth cannot be trusted.

Bragging Razor: If someone brags about their success or happiness, assume it’s half what they claim. If someone downplays their success or happiness, assume it’s double what they claim

Narcissism Razor: If worried about people’s opinions, remember they are too busy worrying about other people’s opinions of them. 99% of the time you’re an extra in someone else’s movie

Charisma Razor: If a high-achieving person is charismatic, start with a level of skepticism for each idea they present. If a high-achieving person isn’t charismatic, start with a level of openness for each idea they present

Luck Razor: When choosing between two paths, choose the path with a larger luck surface area. (Sitting at home watching Netflix, or going out to dinner with a friend. The second one has a much larger luck surface area.)

Everyday Razor: If you go from doing a task weekly to daily, you achieve 7 years of output in 1 year. If you apply a 1% compound interest each time, you achieve 54 years of output in 1 year.

Network Razor: If you have 2 quality people who would benefit from an intro to one another, always do it.

Smart Friends Razor: If your smartest friends are interested in something, it’s worth paying attention to.

Early-Late Razor: You might be early if it’s a talking point on Reddit. If it’s a talking point on LinkedIn, you’re late.

Instagram Razor: When you see a photo of an influencer looking attractive on Instagram — assume there are 99 worse variations of that photo you haven’t seen. They just picked the best one.

25+ Razor: If you’re 25+, assume your reactions about new technologies and trends are wrong. If someone under 25 is obsessed with something new, don’t dismiss it, until you’ve tested it.

Riker’s Razor: If someone’s incompetence is too staggering to be true, they’re most likely faking it and you should find out why.

Jung’s Razor: If you cannot understand why someone did something, look at the consequences — and infer the motivation.

Duck test: If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck

Arena Razor: When faced with two paths, choose the path that puts you in the arena.

Rooms Razor: If you have a choice between entering two rooms, choose the room where you’re more likely to be the dumbest one in the room.

Gratitude Razor: When in doubt, choose to show more gratitude to the people who have mentored or supported you.

Death Bed Razor: Thinking about your death will help you see through trivial matters, and will help you act with more agency.

Bezos’ Razors: If unsure what action to pick, let your 90-year-old self on death bed choose it.

Skinners’s Law: If procrastinating on an item, you only have 2 options: 1. Make the pain of not doing it greater than the pain of doing it. 2. Make the pleasure of doing it greater than the pleasure of not doing it.

Hofstadter’s Law: It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take into account Hofstadter’s Law.

Elon’s Law:• If you have a project, combat Hofstadter’s Law by setting a ridiculously ambitious deadline.

Munger’s Law: If you don’t know the other side's argument, don’t form an opinion.

Joe Rogan Razor: If unsure what action to take — ask what the hero in the movie would do. If you’re intensely passionate about something and nobody around you is interested in it — assume the scale of the internet might help you find it.

Walt Disney’s Rule: If struggling to think clearly about a subject, draw it out

Optimist Razor: When choosing who to spend time with, prioritize spending more time with optimists.

Time investment vs Spent Razor: When choosing what to do, prioritize investing time, not spending it. (investing time are activities that will yield compounding returns like reading, mindfulness, physical activity etc.)

The Rooms Razor: If you have a choice between entering two rooms, choose the room where you’re more likely to be the dumbest one in the room.

Young-Old Razor: Make the decision that your 80-year-old self and 10-year-old self would be proud of.

That’s it. Hope that this will help you shave off some bad decisions.

Thanks for being here!
Beni

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