Summary of Scott E. Page's The Model Thinker

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.

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#1 Models are formal structures represented in mathematics and diagrams that help us understand the world. They improve our ability to reason, explain, design, communicate, act, predict, and explore.

#2 A model is a simplification of the world that can be applied within it. It must be simple enough that within it we can apply logic. A model is a collection of models that accomplishes even more.

#3 We have access to unprecedented amounts of data, but we are not capable of understanding why certain things happen. Empirical findings may be misleading. Data on piece-rate work shows that the more people are paid per unit of output, the less they produce.

#4 Models are used to make sense of the firehose-like streams of data that cross our computer screens. Without models, people suffer from a laundry list of cognitive shortcomings: we overweight recent events, we assign probabilities based on reasonableness, and we ignore base rates.

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Rafbók: 23 mars 2022