Using Newton’s Flaming Laser Sword to Kill a Debate
“If something cannot be settled by experiment or observation, then it is not worthy of debate.”
Mike Alder
The point of any debate is to use reason and logic to argue one side over another. It all comes down to what you can prove based off of facts, what you can observe, and what you can test.
Newton’s Flaming Laser Sword (Alder’s razor) is one of the Philosophical Razors for keeping debates, debatable. It’ll help you steer clear from unrealistic debates and sharpen your ability to present sound arguments.
How hypothetical is too hypothetical?
There is nothing wrong with using a hypothetical scenario to prove a point, but you should be careful not to take it too far. A classic example is the question of what happens when an unstoppable force meets an unmovable object.
The debate surrounding this question isn’t worth having because we don’t know of any unstoppable forces or unmovable objects. It can’t be tested, so there is no way to be sure about our answers. The language is bigger than the real world.
Anything you add to this won’t lead to a truth or fact because these things require proof. The minimum standard of proof is that it should be able to be observed and there is no way to observe something that is too hypothetical.
Newton’s Flaming Laser Sword Has Its Limits
This mental model is about debates where your goal is to get down to the facts, but not all debates are framed this way.
This usually happens when decisions need to be made on the chances of an unknown variable. In other words, even if you can’t observe or experiment with something, the debate about how likely it is may still help inform a decision.
Businesses who sell entirely unique products deal with this all the time. If you have an idea that doesn’t already have a known target audience, you may be forced to make decisions about how to market and design the product before you have solid information about who you are selling it to.
Something only isn’t worth debating when it doesn’t have to do with informing imminent decisions that require you to play the odds.
You need to know the difference between a theory and a hypothesis
A lot of people say theories aren’t facts, and they’re right. They are just a way to explain facts. But this also means we can observe and test a theory.
A hypothesis uses little or limited evidence to explain something the same way a theory does, but it doesn’t hold the same weight and it’s not always provable. I’ll provide a popular example.
You might have heard of the multiverse hypotheses. It’s the idea that there are an infinite number of parallel universes where you might be leading a different life and the most popular phone is a Pair instead of Apple.
Let’s just say there is. Then what? What kind of evidence could you possibly use to support something that by definition, only exists outside our known universe? This is the essence of Newton’s Flaming Laser Sword.
