But if the scientist could discover a way to produce the same sequence with an algorithm, a computer program significantly shorter than the sequence, then he would surely know the events were not random. He would say that he had hit upon a theory. This is what science always seeks: a simple theory that accounts for a large set of facts and allows for prediction of events still to come. It is the famous Occam’s razor. “We are to admit no more causes of natural things than such as are both true and sufficient to explain their appearances,” said Newton, “for nature is pleased with simplicity.”
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