Excellent, with great advice at the end. I am left with a question: would it be fair to say that all human decision making involves the use of models, even if they are not mathematically based? Specifically, I am wondering if the narratives we use to create certainty around our decision making could be considered a type of modelling.
I'd say yes. A narrative is a simplification of the world that expresses some kind of dynamic, so I think it is fair to say it is a kind of modelling. In many ways, my post year about Pictures of Reality was making a similar point, albeit in different words.
And I can't claim any credit for the advice - all the principles are taken directly from Thompson.
I like your drawing attention to Erica Thompson and 'Model Land'. I have become something of a fan of her and the close professional colleagues with whom she discussed the book in public when it came out. (Comes out in paper back in UK at the end of this November.) Additionally for me her interview with Nate Hagens fairly early on in his series 'The Great Simplification, was particularly effective and touched on more than her career as a senior policy fellow at the London School of Economics.
Personally I think metaphors do something more than similies and potentially open up conversations about our observation of the world. Humans do particular kinds of conversation and these can provide the chance to unpack insight. 'Illumination' is an important aspect of reality. (Hawkmoth c.f. butterfly is suggestive.)
I listened recently to a conversation where one person said: "I am a scientist. I believe in causality." They were talking about acknowledged observations that had no ready causal explanation of reality. My guess is we are stuck by nature with 'cause and effect', although the concept does not embrace a universal truth. I am grateful for humble knowledge as we go along ... smile.
Excellent, with great advice at the end. I am left with a question: would it be fair to say that all human decision making involves the use of models, even if they are not mathematically based? Specifically, I am wondering if the narratives we use to create certainty around our decision making could be considered a type of modelling.
I'd say yes. A narrative is a simplification of the world that expresses some kind of dynamic, so I think it is fair to say it is a kind of modelling. In many ways, my post year about Pictures of Reality was making a similar point, albeit in different words.
And I can't claim any credit for the advice - all the principles are taken directly from Thompson.
I like your drawing attention to Erica Thompson and 'Model Land'. I have become something of a fan of her and the close professional colleagues with whom she discussed the book in public when it came out. (Comes out in paper back in UK at the end of this November.) Additionally for me her interview with Nate Hagens fairly early on in his series 'The Great Simplification, was particularly effective and touched on more than her career as a senior policy fellow at the London School of Economics.
Personally I think metaphors do something more than similies and potentially open up conversations about our observation of the world. Humans do particular kinds of conversation and these can provide the chance to unpack insight. 'Illumination' is an important aspect of reality. (Hawkmoth c.f. butterfly is suggestive.)
I listened recently to a conversation where one person said: "I am a scientist. I believe in causality." They were talking about acknowledged observations that had no ready causal explanation of reality. My guess is we are stuck by nature with 'cause and effect', although the concept does not embrace a universal truth. I am grateful for humble knowledge as we go along ... smile.