Johnny Logic

Learning, Simplicity, Truth, and Misinformation

My thesis advisor has just placed his most recent work online.

Learning, Simplicity, Truth, and Misinformation, Kevin Kelly

This manuscript comes closest to my current thinking about method and draws some systematic contrasts between learning theory and more standard approaches in statistics and information theory. It is my most frank paper, perhaps to a fault. It is written for a volume on the philosophy of information and was presented at the First International Workshop on the Philosophy of Information. It will eventually be the chapter on Information and Learning. I argue that standard statistical and information theoretical attempts to explain Ockham's razor fall short of the mark. It also presents my most recent ideas about how to explain it. At the end, I recommend dropping the word "information" from all discussions of learning and induction.

We have been discussing this issue since we met last fall. I am convinced that his positive account of Ockham's razor is the only decent justification around. It also happens to be my thesis topic.

Many more interesting papers on similar topics can be found here.