#bonini's paradox

[small-names-big-ideas]

the idea:

bonini's paradox is most succinctly explained as "the map is not the territory", meaning the representation of the thing is never the same as the actual thing. this is related to rené magritte's the treachery of images, but Bonini's paradox's extension is that a model (or map)'s generalizability is inversely proportional to its level of precision. bonini's paradox is particularly relevant in scientific and mathematical models, where model designers must try to strike a balance between a model that describes their data accurately and one that describes other, similar, data accurately.

my original sources:

"on exactitude in science" by jorge luis borges, collected in collected fictions (translated by andrew hurley).

"the man who collected the first of september, 1973" by tor åge bringsvaerd, collected in the book of fantasy (edited by jorge luis borges, silvina ocampo, and a. bioy casares).

[hungwy]

how about you put two and two together for once.

[happilybouncingbunnies]

Bonini's Paradox describes a delicate balance: having a model detailed enough to represent reality vs. having a simplified model to capture only essential features for a given purpose (Bonini, 1963). In other words, "as a model grows more realistic, it also becomes just as difficult to understand as the real-world processes it represents" (Dutton and Starbuck, 1971).

[starspanglerbanner]

Bonini's Paradox / Bill Domonkos

[highlights-from-my-instapaper]

the Map Paradox (the name of which, I just found out, is actually Bonini's paradox2):

The Map Is Not the Terrain

[amalelrhazi]

Les leçons à tirer du paradoxe de Bonini à propos de l’utilité des modèles

Amal El Rhazi, Les leçons à tirer du paradoxe de Bonini à propos de l’utilité des modèles. Le célèbre statisticien britannique George Box, mort en 2013, a appliqué son talent à de nombreux secteurs – analyse des séries temporelles, inférence bayésienne, etc. – sans même parler de sa méthode des surfaces de réponses (MSR), et s’est vu attribuer de nombreuses et prestigieuses récompenses. George […] Lire l'article

[mrfamous001]

Bonini's Paradox 3 by hhs | 1 comments on Hacker News.

[fbreschi]

Bonini’s Paradox and Digital Technology

http://bit.ly/2LJ9NM5

[diemelasse]

Alles Einfache ist falsch, alles Komplizierte unbrauchbar.

Paul Valéry, Bonini Paradox.

[small-names-big-ideas]

the idea:

we're currently in an extremely difficult period in scientific research because many classic studies haven't proven replicable later by other researchers. this is particularly prevalent in the more human-based fields (ex: psychology, sociology, social anthropology, and economics) because it's especially difficult to isolate variables. but the replication crisis is a broad problem across most scientific disciplines for other reasons, such as the pressure for published research caused by both academic institutions and private medical research companies. this is also related to bonini's paradox, "all models are wrong", and the more general concept of the map-territory relation: it's extremely difficult to build a model or hypothesis that is true for a specific study population yet still useful and relevant when trying to generalize to a broader population.

[highlights-from-my-instapaper]

Rough approximations are enough sometimes. That’s Bonini’s Paradox: have simple rules for a complex world.

Bonini's Paradox: Why Simple Rules Triumph In A Complex World

[highlights-from-my-instapaper]

those who combat the intolerant are likely to overdo it, thus becoming the very party who truly limits discourse

Bonini's Paradox: Why Simple Rules Triumph In A Complex World

[highlights-from-my-instapaper]

allowing the intolerant to control discourse would ultimately lead to the disappearance of tolerance

Bonini's Paradox: Why Simple Rules Triumph In A Complex World

[highlights-from-my-instapaper]

Popper’s Paradox tells us that there should be a limit to what speech we tolerate

Bonini's Paradox: Why Simple Rules Triumph In A Complex World

[highlights-from-my-instapaper]

George Box wrote earlier: “Remember all models are wrong; the practical question is how wrong do they have to be to not be useful.”

Bonini's Paradox: Why Simple Rules Triumph In A Complex World

[highlights-from-my-instapaper]

map with a 1:1 ratio and you’ll get the most detailed picture, but it would also be entirely unusable.

Bonini's Paradox: Why Simple Rules Triumph In A Complex World