Map Is Not The Territory

Central tenet of General Semantics, as defined by Alfred Korzybski. A good reminder against Model Theism.

The phrase "A map is not the territory" was first introduced by Alfred Korzybski in his 1931 paper "A Non-Aristotelian System and Its Necessity for Rigour in Mathematics and Physics," presented at a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in New Orleans, and later reprinted in Science and Sanity (1933). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Map%E2%80%93territory_relation

https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/this-is-not-a-pipe-parodies

LessWrong section

Steven Wright: I have a map of the United States... Actual size. It says, 'Scale: 1 mile = 1 mile.' I spent last summer folding it. I hardly ever unroll it.

See also All models are wrong

So we're really always Thinking in Bets.

Bill are you familiar with the works of O.R. Bontrager? a contemporary with Korzy....timgergen@aol.com I studied under him in the early 70's

• sorry, haven't heard of him - I'll do a little browsing... --Bill
  • Text from The New Inquistion (Robert Anton Wilson): The following diagram is adopted from Professor O.R. Bontrager of University of Pennsylvania Department of Psychology and from the general principles in Blake's anthology, Perception, University of Texas, 1952.