All Models Are Wrong

George Box stated: "All models are wrong, but some are useful." Every mental model is a simplification of reality. A map of London is not London. Your understanding of economics is not the economy.

Models are useful precisely because they simplify. A perfectly detailed map would be as big and as confusing as the place it describes, so it would be useless. The real danger is forgetting that simplification and treating a model as complete truth.