A simple exercise that is fairly fool proof and is designed at discovering the truth/falsity of a given contention. An example: If there were truth to the contentions behind Homeopathy, then the world would be flooded with Homeopathic Heroin/Cocaine/Meth etc. The world is not so flooded ergo the contention is bullshit.
A significant stretch of the Amazon rainforest was cut down to build a new four-lane highway in preparation for the COP30 climate summit held in Belém, Brazil, in November 2025. This development drew widespread criticism for its perceived hypocrisy, as world leaders gathered to discuss solutions for climate change and deforestation. If climate change is an immediate, existential threat, those sorts of things would simply not happen. Ed's razor tells you the story. It is no different than Russia arranging tourist holidays at Chernobyl. Chernobyl is fucking dangerous and you don't go there. Climate change is fucking dangerous you don't fly private. Ed's razor allows you to stop worrying over nonsense.
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by Razor Wyre December 15, 2003
Get the Razor Wyre mug.D’Sousa’s Razor:
Identified by Nassim Nicholas Taleb in the Medium article: The Merchandising of Virtue" - May 27, 2017
"Kids with rich parents talk about “white privilege” at such privileged colleges as Amherst –but in one instance, one of them could not answer D’Souza’s simple and logical suggestion: ‘Why don’t you go to the registrar’s office and give your privileged spot to a minority student who was next in line?’
Hence the principle:
If your private life conflicts with your intellectual opinion, it cancels your intellectual ideas, not your private life.
and
If your private actions do not generalise then you cannot have general ideas.
This is not strictly about ethics, but information transfer. If a car salesman tries to sell you a Detroit car while driving a Honda, he is signalling that it may have a problem."
The video Taleb is referencing is:
SO SATISFYING: Dinesh D'Souza absolutely shreds SJW over "white privilege" - Young America's Foundation
Published 09 Jun 2018. Recorded at Amherst College.
If you hold an intelectual ideal, but your real world actions do not reflect or enforce this ideal. Then your actions cancel out this ideological stance. You cannot say to the word "I am a vegan" and claim the moral virtue for such an identity, but occasional eat chicken. The act of eating the chicken cancels out any moral or ideological virtue or superiority claimed by being vegan.
Identified by Nassim Nicholas Taleb in the Medium article: The Merchandising of Virtue" - May 27, 2017
"Kids with rich parents talk about “white privilege” at such privileged colleges as Amherst –but in one instance, one of them could not answer D’Souza’s simple and logical suggestion: ‘Why don’t you go to the registrar’s office and give your privileged spot to a minority student who was next in line?’
Hence the principle:
If your private life conflicts with your intellectual opinion, it cancels your intellectual ideas, not your private life.
and
If your private actions do not generalise then you cannot have general ideas.
This is not strictly about ethics, but information transfer. If a car salesman tries to sell you a Detroit car while driving a Honda, he is signalling that it may have a problem."
The video Taleb is referencing is:
SO SATISFYING: Dinesh D'Souza absolutely shreds SJW over "white privilege" - Young America's Foundation
Published 09 Jun 2018. Recorded at Amherst College.
If you hold an intelectual ideal, but your real world actions do not reflect or enforce this ideal. Then your actions cancel out this ideological stance. You cannot say to the word "I am a vegan" and claim the moral virtue for such an identity, but occasional eat chicken. The act of eating the chicken cancels out any moral or ideological virtue or superiority claimed by being vegan.
Student: "We have numbers that demonstrate precisely how much wealth was stolen, and that's money that in some way could be given back."
D'Sousa: "You're willing to have social justice with other people's pay, but you're not willing to pay.
So that's the problem. And that's the problem with the progressivism that marches behind social justice, while protecting its own privileges. You know, how you said, we all have to survive, really, you have to be at Amherst to survive?
You don't have to be at Amherst to survive, you have to be at Amherst to benefit.
You have to be at Amherst because you're getting opportunities at this college that many other people are not getting.
So if you say you believe in equal opportunity, you're a hypocrite because you are taking advantage of opportunities unavailable to others. But for you this hypocrisy is fully justified because you are militating on behalf of the poor. But if it's if you're against privilege - this college is privilege. So there's a glaring hypocrisy, and you will never turn your moral mirror on yourself to say, What am I doing about it?
That's my point. For you - society should act before you do - to enforce your moral code.
____________
Person A: Im a vegan but I occasionally have some chicken.
Person B: By the logic of D'Sousa's Razor, identified by Nassim Taleb - the act of eating the chicken cancel out your vegan claim, regardless of what you say about yourself.
D'Sousa: "You're willing to have social justice with other people's pay, but you're not willing to pay.
So that's the problem. And that's the problem with the progressivism that marches behind social justice, while protecting its own privileges. You know, how you said, we all have to survive, really, you have to be at Amherst to survive?
You don't have to be at Amherst to survive, you have to be at Amherst to benefit.
You have to be at Amherst because you're getting opportunities at this college that many other people are not getting.
So if you say you believe in equal opportunity, you're a hypocrite because you are taking advantage of opportunities unavailable to others. But for you this hypocrisy is fully justified because you are militating on behalf of the poor. But if it's if you're against privilege - this college is privilege. So there's a glaring hypocrisy, and you will never turn your moral mirror on yourself to say, What am I doing about it?
That's my point. For you - society should act before you do - to enforce your moral code.
____________
Person A: Im a vegan but I occasionally have some chicken.
Person B: By the logic of D'Sousa's Razor, identified by Nassim Taleb - the act of eating the chicken cancel out your vegan claim, regardless of what you say about yourself.
by bewdew December 9, 2023
Get the D'Sousa's Razor mug.The act of fuckin a girl from the methadone clinic doggy style. Right before she nods off from the medication. The man pulls his penis out of her vagina. And without lube or shoves it in her asshole while punching her in the back of the head.
Bare in mind, for it to be a proper Richmond razor back. The girl can have no more than seven teeth.
Bare in mind, for it to be a proper Richmond razor back. The girl can have no more than seven teeth.
by Sweet Randy March 23, 2021
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Get the Razor wank mug.Commonly worded as:
"The plausibility of any conspiracy theory is inversely proportional to the level of government hyper‑competence needed to maintain it"
Other wording:
"The plausibility of any conspiracy theory decreases as the level of government hyper-competence required to sustain it increases."
"The plausibility of any conspiracy theory is inversely proportional to the level of government hyper‑competence required to maintain it."
"The plausibility of any conspiracy theory is inversely proportional to the amount of government hyper‑competence it would require to plan, execute, and keep it secret."
In other words:
If a plot needs dozens of agencies to be flawless, leak‑proof, and perfectly coordinated for years… it probably didn’t happen.
"The plausibility of any conspiracy theory is inversely proportional to the level of government hyper‑competence needed to maintain it"
Other wording:
"The plausibility of any conspiracy theory decreases as the level of government hyper-competence required to sustain it increases."
"The plausibility of any conspiracy theory is inversely proportional to the level of government hyper‑competence required to maintain it."
"The plausibility of any conspiracy theory is inversely proportional to the amount of government hyper‑competence it would require to plan, execute, and keep it secret."
In other words:
If a plot needs dozens of agencies to be flawless, leak‑proof, and perfectly coordinated for years… it probably didn’t happen.
Neighbor: “The mayor unleashed a raccoon crisis to distract from the budget meeting.”
You: “I'm invoking Wilford's Razor: City Hall can’t herd three councilmembers—let alone a raccoon militia.”
You: “I'm invoking Wilford's Razor: City Hall can’t herd three councilmembers—let alone a raccoon militia.”
by Koffea August 12, 2025
Get the Wilford's Razor mug.An East Coast Term referring to a particularly harsh hit of marijuana when smoking out of a bong or similar apparatus, usually the 2nd or 3rd hit from the bowl. This is the hit that has all the kief on it, and the recipient usually ends up coughing a lot.
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