Murphy is right about every energy "source" from Earth. His maths was good, but actually missing the full end to end analysis, which has to include the sun at one end, and the Earth at the other. It starts at the sun, and ends at Earth, as far as we are concerned, and we have to mathematically sign it, positive where each Joule is first created, which I guess Murphy didn't do, otherwise he would have noticed there is a solution to using up all the stored energy on Earth.
Notice also EROI applies exclusively only to stored forms of energy. A finite amount of energy at the input of the equation is required to ensure a finite energy at the output, so as to be able to compute a numerical result.
Therefore it has to be stored energy which it is applied to, not solar energy because solar energy is not finite, not stored, it is a function of time, not just a number.
Where we see EROI claimed to be applied to solar, it has been done by artificially imposing a lifetime on the solar facility, usually by dictating it will be equivalent to the average lifetime of a single panel.
This is like setting the lifetime of a tree to be nothing more than a single one of its leaves, clearly ridiculous, and incredibly wasteful to the environment, but the way to maximise profit, which is what investors who might fund a solar facility are most interested in.
Further, the actual energy expended per Joule of solar energy received is zero, again rendering EROI meaningless, comparing the installation cost with solar energy received is like comparing how difficult it was to push open the door to an endless queue of folk offering not only to push the door open for us, but to do everything for us, with no further effort required from us. Again ridiculous.
Notice there was no significant technology of solar in Murphy's time, so we should not be surprised he didn't take solar into account.