Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Ockham's Razor


It is futile to do with more things that which can be done with fewer.

22 comments:

Jon said...

In case anyone was wondering this little duck does have two legs but for some reason seemed happy to just stand on one... it reminds me of arguments I've been hearing lately...

Debra Kay said...

Birds look like little zen masters when they do that. The little duck is a piece of art, angles and curves and dots, just so.

Enemy of the Republic said...

That is a noble duck who epitomizes truth--I'm not kidding.

human being said...

me think the best razor is nature itself... if something is redundant, it is simplified or omitted naturally through evolution...
don't think man has acquired that collective encompassing wisdom of cosmos to decide wisely which elements should be simplified or be omitted...
i'm not completely against Ockham's Razor, though... it is a helpful principle in some theories and analysis... provided that people do not oversimplify or overgeneralize...
think, for example, it is applied to sociology or anthropology... genocide or even things like cloning or genetic modifications can be justified by disciples of Hitler...
:D
did you know that crows in some parts of the world, such as UK, are regarded as pests and you can freely kill them? people just see the small amount of crop they take as food ... and they don't see that crows are predators of other pests which are more harmful to farming... they can control the population of those animals...

legislators and decision-makers are usually among the most ignorant of all people...
:D
so the golden mean is the safe side...
no razor... no anti-razor... somewhere in between..

or perhaps i didn't get your point, Jon... ha?
in Iran we say, "each head has got a thought" (i.e., when we put our thoughts together, we come to the right thought...)

human being said...

forgot to say that the duck is a beauty... and the shot is really impressive...

switch said...

I love ducks.

I do.

Really.

Ducks are never futile.

sukipoet said...

Your photography lessons are panning out. Great shot. It is nice to be able to stand on one leg on days I'm in balance. But I'm glad to have two. Thank you for the assurances that this duck also has two. He looks like a yogini. I am sure he is meditating and saying OMMMMMMMM.

Anonymous said...

this duck is a bit like me and may be like this world! always in fragile balance between contemplation and reality ! which is to see himself falling or to fly off ... reason or consequence, it is tiredness in the 2 cases...
frenchtony

Anonymous said...

nice duck anyway !!
frenchtony

Lynn Cohen said...

well done with photo of the duck doing his yoga pose...ducks do that you know...I think this one is called the ducky asuna or something like that...
I like the lines behind him too. Nice speckled chest... and the bit of yellow...

As for the saying oh so true, I think American's have a hard time doing with less/fewer things...we are a lot of things society.

I fell for the IPhone when I saw my son's. Then realized I hardly needed it, since I had a computer at work and a computer at home. But...it would have been ducky to have on the trip. Wonder if you can rent them for vacations only?

Jon said...

Deb... yeah this little duck is surely a zen master... would make our friend Bobb proud standing there on his own one foot wouldn't he???

EOTR... hopefully you got my message about James Joyce and his story "The Dead" and how that corresponds with the angels... and how I'm not interested immediately (notice I use the word immediately)... seraphin and cherubin are OK too...

Crow... what I was getting at with the razor was that the duck is only standing on one foot... the razor says that if it's ok to stand on just one foot then that's better... well I don't agree... why stand on one foot when you can stand on two??? that's why the razor is a recursive idea... the premise implies agreement... obviously it's better to stand on two feet (well... at least most of the time) so why just have one... even if the two are more complicated... know what I mean??? but anyways... who'd have thought it but crazy me! ;-)

Fern... Agreed 100%... ducks are never futile... they're cutile!!! (that's a word that I just made up... like it???) p.s. have a note coming your way soon... and thanks for the latest post on our site about your daughter... I too spent a summer on a schooner... out of Twillingate Isle... (you can google that one and get a good answer to what I'm saying)...

Suki,,, I'm not so sure about the photo lessons having an impact... I'm working on still-life this week... but from my background in poetic I don't exactlly believe in still life... Erica Jong says that there are no still lifes... everything is a product of time and he present moment... nothing is still... having trouble with that... will put up a shot that expresses this conundrum later this week... thanks for your thoughts that spur my ideas as always!!!

Tony... at least you're not talking about eating the duck like you were about the snail in that pic from a week ago!!! You French!!! what don't you guys eat??? lol!!! ;-)

Lynn... I'm guessing that you're home now... hope that you're trip ended out well... thanks again for sharing the shots of you and Cris... I thought that was so touching... and you should resist the Iphone... screw them and their technology... it's all marketing as I'm sure you know!!!

Anonymous said...

jon, you Canadian, you know not appreciate the good things !! lol
a good duck (magret)with a little piece of foie gras and a good bottle of red wine from Bordeaux or and a small or mormale bottle of sweet white wine
humm !! I m hungry now !!
frenchtony

switch said...

Twillingate Isle..hahah Jon, I know it from a Great Big Sea tune.

Sandpiper (Lin) said...

I really like your writings. This is a great shot. I've never seen a duck like this before. I've often wondered why birds will sometimes stand on one foot like this.
Thanks for stopping by my blog when was sick. I'm very far behind and trying to catch up on visiting blogs this week. Hope you are enjoying the weekend!

Unknown said...

I too love ducks - having grown up by the shore
And he certainly does make do with the minimum.

He stands on one foot to conserve body heat, keeping one foot tucked up inside his well oiled feathery insulation.

I've been to the aviary in Niagara Falls, nice to be able to be right inside with the birds

Unknown said...

Jimi Hendrix

It seemed like everyone
Wanted to play guitar
Be a rock star

So mom & dad
Bought them that guitar
Some song books

And instructional books too
On technique
Chords
Etc…

If you were lucky
You got lessons

Most of the guitars
Ended up in closets
Yard sales
Pawn shops

But some kids
With practice
Got good…

Some got real good

The world of lead guitar players
Was shaken to its roots
With the emergence of Jimi Hendrix

Pete Twonsend, Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton
Met up after one of Jimi’s shows
And declared themselves obsolete

Jimi changed everything
Because Jimi was

Self taught

Much of the art world is like that

And so
I would offer my perspective
Into the art of photography
With that in mind

My word is in no way
The last word
And it might in fact
Be artistic poison…

All photography really comes down
To a few basic relationships
Regarding light
And the properties
Of lenses

To me
Photography
Is elusive

The image
Is to be

Caught

This approach
Affords me the opportunity
To catch things
I didn’t expect

Or even see

Your Pic with the feathers
Is a good example
(HB saw the heart)

Had you seen the heart
Might you have cropped it
Differently?

People see
With their mind

The camera sees
With a lens…
The camera tends to see all

The bird
The brook and the duck
(I really liked the duck)
All show a good use of framing

Filling the frame is really important

These images all appear to be un cropped
So good job there

Once you have an idea of what you want in the frame
You attempt to catch
With a camera
What you are seeing
With your mind

It really helps
To learn to see like a camera

You get to control
Light
Shadow
Color
Contrast
Focus
And depth of field

In the old days
You did this on film
And then in the darkroom

Now its on the camera’s sensor
And then on your PC

These are nice high quality images
So I’m guessing you have something like a Nikon D200
Or Canon EOS either of which gives you a lot of flexibility

Good lenses are a MUST
Zooms are fine
I prefer zooms that allow for the maximum aperture through the entire range
More $$ I know – but less frustration in the long run

But you can’t beat a few standard single focus lenses for a few things
Specifically Wide wide angle
And macro
And a good 50mm that opens up to f.1.2
For those spontaneous low light occasions

Everything in photography
Is a compromise
Time against aperture
Sensitivity against clarity

Learn how to manipulate these things
To get the effects you want
Sometimes it’s a struggle

Learn your equipment
And experiment experiment experiment

Like the duck
I would have deliberately tried
To catch images with the background is in focus
And with it barely discernable
And a few in between
(not to say you didn’t)

In this way
I learn to use the equipment to its full capability
And my own

I want you
To some degree
To be
Self taught

Jon said...

Tony... you go right ahead and eat all the snails and ducks you want to... I'll take the Bordeaux though... that is if you don't mind sharing... this reminds me of a saying my brother uses all the time... and actually we're talking about getting some t-shirts printed for a gag... and not that snails are especially cute or anything... he always says:

"The cuter the animal the better it tastes!"

Jon said...

Fern...
;-)

Sandpiper...
again... thanks for dropping by and saying hi... I know that your site gets thousands of hits a day and loads of comments... you're so good to take the time to go about and respond to everyone... that takes some kind of dedication... and think... you're not even making any $$$ doing it... nor sharing your beautiful photography... thanks again and see you soon...

Jon said...

Bobb...
it's so good of you to pass on your insights of photography (using the excellent analogy of Hendrix and him being self taught)... I left a comment on your site too asking a couple more questions of you that I hope you'll not mind getting into... it'd be a big help...

And yeah... the aviary is a great place... especially if you've got an afternoon and a camera... there's so much going on in there that it's hard to know what to look at half the time... right now I'm only about 20 mins away from the falls and have been trying to get out there at least once a week... and have been taking the camera too!!!

I know that it's a bit of a drive, but if you'd like to come up one weekend we could plan to meet somewhere there and do that coffee or check out some of the natural beauty of the place... there's a lot of tourists this time of year so you've got to find some places that are a little off the track... just the other day I went down to a place called the whirlpool... it's only fifteen minutes walk from the touristy areas but there's no people there... went scavenging for driftwood and feathers for a still life I'm going to try and shoot soon...

Anyways... thanks again for your comment... I'll think about some of the things you've mentioned some more and probably have even more questions back again!!!

peace
JON

Unknown said...

oh, so many things have been said here to you already, I'll have to come back to appreciate the whole conversation.

I love the duck. His little dots are so sweet and the way a duck is always so sweet and friendly looking makes me believe in God:)

And I think it is curiousness to do with more things that which can be done with fewer,
love to you Hopper
A

Roxanne said...

I am so glad to see you are getting your share of nature and all of her good things out there ... I get vision of Toronto being a wall of stone ... and glad to hear you are getting your dose of inspiration from the earth ... talk to you later, roxy

Unknown said...

He he
I've been to the whirlpool
And all the less popular places

I will definately make the drive out when there is time
And please feel that the invitation is mutual - a weekend on the treefarm can be quite refreshing