Pro Models

*This is part of a double post.  I will probably do this fairly frequently.*

All we have is models.

Once we are born, we simply accumulate data—nearly infinite amounts of it.  For a while, we cannot make heads nor tails of it.  And our lives are largely pain.  And occasional pleasure.

Then, as our development follows that of evolution, we begin to make models.

When A happens, B follows.

Why?

And it continues.  We understand more and more, learning language(s), mathematics, sciences.  We learn how objects move, how people react, and how to interact with the world.

But we are only ever living in a model—in our own heads.  We learn how cars, trees, dogs, shoes, and everything else looks, works, and breaks.  When we encounter something new—an object or a behavior—we sort it into on of these categories, or, if it doesn’t fit, we take more time to create a new one, which still fits into our understanding—our model—of the world as a whole.

Without models, we could not function.  One would have to approach everything while assuming nothing.  Concepts like object permanence, our own visual system (perspective, color, assumed textures), and reproducibility are thrown out.  Function becomes impossible.

Models are our only interface with the world; they are the only way anything with a finite memory could ever hope to survive.  They are the one and only way to live.  Try to live life realizing how much you put into models: politics at all levels, our economy, your friends’ behaviors, others’ driving abilities, how your shower works, how to use a computer, any understanding of science, literally anything you can think of is in a model—even the theory that everything is a model.

For us, models are everything.