Jayhawker Soule

Does parsimony have any meaning when all logically possible actions are equally available and equally effortless?

Philosoft

What does "effortless" entail in this context? If I suppose a physical being who is telekinetic, does it take equal effort for her to move an object with her mind as with her arm?

Jayhawker Soule

Without effort.
I haven't a clue.

Philosoft

As I have no real idea what constitutes an effortless action, I can't comment there. All actions I can conceive of require at least a miniscule amount of what I would call "effort."

In an empirical sense, I have always understood "parsimony" to mean something like, "makes the fewest logical assumptions with the existing data." Supposing we could quantify "effort," it doesn't seem, at least prima facie, that amount of effort would be a necessary component of hypothesis testing.

So, that leaves your other criterion of 'equal availability.' Sticking with empiricism, I'd say "equal availability" would necessarily entail an equal number and scope of assumptions. Once that is satisfied, it seems parsimony would be useless.

Jayhawker Soule

The thread seeks to understand whether or not parsimony has any meaning/relevance to a Deity possessing the quality of omnipotence.