[John Farson]

I have taken you through this essay in the manner of physicists, and accordingly, I have reached a physicist’s conclusion. That mindset includes the phrase made famous by William of Occam: "Non sunt multiplicanda entia praeter necessitatem." This is commonly called Occam’s razor. A way it is often paraphrased is that the simplest answer is also the best.

This guy is probably the worst kind of sci-fi geek. I'm all for internal consistency, but geez... if you're willing suspend disbelief and read a story with elves and dragons, perhaps you could avoid trying to justify everything scientifically.

The author of a previous article about Dwarves, made the point that Tolkien didn't care for simple answers. He'd rather invent a complicated history for why the Dwarves in The Hobbit have mannish names.

[HairOfTheDog]

Well said John!