In one of my favorite scenes in the US version of “The Office” - paper mill branch manager Michael Scott is along with his top salesman Dwight Schrute on a hair-brained scheme to deliver gift baskets to their old clients to encourage them to stay. The exchange goes
GPS: Make a right turn.
Dwight: Wait, wait, no, no no. It means to go up to the right — bear right — over the bridge, and hook with the 307
GPS: Make a right turn
Michael: Maybe it's a shortcut, Dwight. It said go to the right.
GPS: Proceed straight
Michael: I think it knows where it is going.
Dwight: This is the lake! THIS IS THE LAKE!
Michael: The machine knows! Stop yelling at me! Stop yelling!
Dwight: NO! IT'S UP THERE! THERE'S NO ROAD HERE!
[Michael drives into the lake.]
Mental Model: The Map is not the Land
This brings us to our first Mental Model in our ongoing series: The Map is not the Land.
This startling simple mental model is important to keep in mind as you go about your daily life. The essential meaning of it is captured by Farnham Street in their amazing book “The Great Mental Models” and they begin this by saying:
The map of reality is not reality. Even the best maps are imperfect.
Maps are extremely useful pieces of information that allow us to pass on knowledge. These can range from GPS instructions on your phone to a person’s online dating profile to a blog summary of a health study that says you can no longer eat bananas.
This model is about not falling into an easy trap: assuming that the map IS the land or (heaven forbid): believing the map is MORE IMPORTANT than the land.
The book models three important considerations when using your map:
Reality is the ultimate update: Good maps are built with feedback loops and your interpretation of maps should be guided by reality, not the glimpse of reality you’re seeing.
Consider the cartographer: We are all human beings and have values, beliefs, and biases that we build into our creations. Maps can often be less about what they depict and more about understanding a period of time and biases of the creator.
Maps can influence territories: When building shortcuts and abstractions, you can often believe the model is 100% correct and it influences how you think about the world around you. Be careful of using only the map as your bearing.
Conclusion
This mental model is steeped in understanding reality. I’m reminded of Tyler Vigen’s “Spurious Correlations” where correlations are found between two unlike variables. Like “Total revenue generated by arcades” and “Computer science doctorates awarded in the US”:
As every data scientist yells out loud, “Correlations is not causation!” we must consider the way the map tells us one version while the reality is another. Whether its driving our car into the lake because the GPS said to go or finding spurious correlations, we need to all remember: The map is not the land!