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Francis Crick has commented on potential limitations of Occam's razor in
biology. He advances the argument that because biological systems are the products of (an on-going) natural selection,
the mechanisms are not necessarily optimal in an obvious sense. He cautions: "While Ockham's razor is a useful
tool in the physical sciences, it can be a very dangerous implement in biology. It is thus very rash to use simplicity and
elegance as a guide in biological research."
http://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/0812/0812.4932.pdf
Our comments review the long-established axioms of the scientific
method, remind readers of the distinctions between science and history, disprove the generality of Occam’s razor by
counter example, and highlight the risks of accepting additional scientific arbiters as equal to repeatable experiment.
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