Mental Models XV (Limitations IV)

"All experience attests the strength of the tendency to mistake mental abstractions, even negative ones, for substantive realities; and the Permanent Possibilities of sensation which experience guarantees arc so extremely unlike in many of their properties to actual sensations, that since we are capable of imagining something which transcends sensations, there is a great natural probability that we should suppose these to be it." (Hippolyte Taine, "On intelligence", 1871)

“Confronted with the mystery of the Universe, we are driven to ask if the model our minds have framed at all corresponds with the reality; if, indeed, there be any reality behind the image.” (Sir William C Dampier, “The Recent Development of Physical Science”, 1904)

"Exhaustive studies by many investigators have shown that the fundamental laws of nature do not control the phenomena directly. We must picture them as operating in a substratum of which we can form no mental picture unless we are willing to introduce a number of irrelevant and therefore unjustifiable suppositions." (James H Jeans," Physics and Philosophy" 3rd Ed., 1943)

“The pictures we draw of nature show similar limitations; these are the price we pay for limiting our pictures of nature to the kinds that can be understood by our minds. As we cannot draw one perfect picture, we make two imperfect pictures and turn to one or the other according as we want one property or another to be accurately delineated. Our observations tell us which is the right picture to use for each particular purpose […] . Yet some properties of nature are so far-reaching and general that neither picture can depict them properly of itself. In such cases we must appeal to both pictures, and these sometimes give us different and inconsistent information. Where, then, shall we find the truth?” (James H Jeans, “Physics and Philosophy” 3rd Ed., 1943)

"This whole illusion has its history in ways of thinking - in the images, models, myths, and language systems which we have used for thousands of years to make sense of the world. […] Idolatry is not the use of images, but confusing them with what they represent, and in this respect mental images and lofty abstractions can be more insidious than bronze idols." (Alan W. Watts," The Book on the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are", 1966)

"The model of the natural world we build in our minds by such a process will forever be inadequate, just a little cathedral in the mountains. Still it is better than no model at all." (Timothy Ferris, "The Red Limit: The Search for the Edge of the Universe", 1977)

“Accurate estimates depend at least as much upon the mental model used in forming the picture as upon the number of pieces of the puzzle that have been collected.” (Richards J. Heuer Jr, “Psychology of Intelligence Analysis”, 1999)

"Often our mental models serve a very useful and practical purpose by helping us to make very quick sense of our experiences and interactions. However, the danger for us is that our mental models do not always reflect the truth, i.e. the way things really are. Often they reflect what we believe to be true, and sometimes we get it wrong." (John Middleton, "Upgrade Your Brain: 52 brilliant ideas for everyday genius", 2006)

"To think one needs to use a mental model, but mental models are only an abstraction of reality and at best an oversimplification. Making them explicit is the only chance one has to learn and improve them." (Jamshid Gharajedaghi, "Systems Thinking: Managing Chaos and Complexity", 2011)