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The world is an intractable, complicated place. Part of the human condition is to simplify, narratise, overlay an organising {{t|metaphor}} that makes sense of the chaos. | {{a|maxim|}}The world is an intractable, complicated place. Part of the human condition is to simplify, narratise, [[It’s okay to generalise|generalise]]: to overlay an organising {{t|metaphor}} that makes sense of the chaos. | ||
So we are drawn to signs that stand for more complicated underlying realities. The laws of physics are such a simplification. They don’t lie<ref>Though try telling that to {{author|Nancy Cartwright}}, author of {{br|How the Laws of Physics Lie}}.</ref>, so much as operate as a simple [[heuristic]]. We rely on Newton’s work to save us the bother of going through that inductive discovery | So we are drawn to signs that stand for more complicated underlying realities. The laws of physics are such a simplification. They don’t lie<ref>Though try telling that to {{author|Nancy Cartwright}}, author of {{br|How the Laws of Physics Lie}}.</ref>, so much as operate as a simple [[heuristic]]. We rely on Newton’s work to save us the bother of going through that inductive discovery every day. | ||
Hence our heuristics become our {{t|metaphor}}s, and our {{t|metaphor}}s coalesce to form an invisible superstructure, on which we hang the imaginative drapes of our own personal reality. | Hence our heuristics become our {{t|metaphor}}s, and our {{t|metaphor}}s coalesce to form an invisible superstructure, on which we hang the imaginative drapes of our own personal reality. | ||
We do this in all walks of life. We rate, we grade, we categorise, we risk manage by reference to a simplified narrative structure. But we must understand the complicated workings, and assumptions, and tolerances, of our models | We do this in all walks of life. We rate, we grade, we categorise, we risk-manage by reference to a simplified narrative structure. But we must understand the complicated workings, and assumptions, and tolerances, of our models. | ||
[[It’s okay to generalise]]. We can’t help it. But be aware of you are doing it. [[Heuristics]] may fail. | |||
{{sa}} | |||
*[[It’s okay to generalise]] | |||
*[[Heuristics]] | |||
{{c|Maxim}} | {{c|Maxim}} |