Building Models
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Science reduces to the use of models to understand the world.
- We are concerned with mental models.
- The world is complex, uncertain, and unknown. We need to
represent it in our thoughts in a way that we can understand.
The process of creating a representation is "model-building".
- The representation may be formal or informal. An informal
model is convenient for analytical use. Formal models are used
for communication and proofs.
- Models are essential and ubiquitous. We can't hold the world in
our minds, so they are essential. The consequences of modelling
appear even in daily conversation: consider the phrase "But I
thought you meant something else." My model must be different
from yours, because we interpret the words differently.
- Models change the interpretation of statements.
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