Canonical · Mental Models · Mental Model

The Map is Not the Territory

Alfred Korzybski · 1931

"Our mental models of reality are reductions. When the model contradicts reality, the model is wrong, not reality."

The idea

A map of Paris is not Paris. If the map perfectly replicated Paris down to every single atom, it would be the size of Paris and therefore useless. All models, by definition, must leave out details to be useful.

Why it works

The takeaway — recall it first

Predicting the Future with Bayes' Theorem

"Good judgment under uncertainty means continuously updating your probability estimates as new evidence arrives, weighting that new evidence against what you already knew (your 'priors') rather than either ignoring new evidence or overreacting to it as if nothing else mattered."

Farnam Street (Shane Parrish), after Thomas Bayes · EssayContinue→