Occam's imaginary razor

<Eliezer> y'know, ceteris paribus, it's probably better for your mental health to use simple rationalizations than complex rationalizations

<hookysun> occam's imaginary razor

Occam's imaginary razor is the principle that if you're going to be wrong anyway, it's better to expend less mental effort on creating thoughts that justify your mistake. If you know or suspect that smoking or eating cheesecake is the wrong decision, you're better off not developing elaborate excuses for it. Even if the original thought is correct, trying too hard to rationalize it may be harmful.

See also

• Occam's razor
• Rationalization