202503301254 The map is not the territory
Also known as the Map-Territory Relation, this is the concept that any object and its representation are fundamentally different things.1 "Mistaking the map for the territory" is a logical fallacy that happens when someone confuses the term or representation of something with the thing itself. The central analogy here of maps and the land itself is self-evident.
I've written a good bit about this concerning modeling reality:
- 202203210832 Models are necessarily incomplete
- 202203210831 Models are immutable but reality isn't
- 202203210830 When your model and reality conflict, reality is always right
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Map–territory relation. (2025). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Map%E2%80%93territory_relation&oldid=1282203073 ↩
Links to this note
- 202203210830 When your model and reality conflict, reality is always right
- 202203210831 Models are immutable but reality isn't
- 202203210832 Models are necessarily incomplete
- 202401291554 All systems thinking is a simplification
- 202402171520 Ask questions to assess the validity of a model
- 202403111123 Burnout
- 202408220851 Willful ignorance of reality in organizations
- 202503211334 The fish trap exists because of the fish
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