Models, The Hawkmoth Effect, and The Future
The Great Simplification #55 with Erica Thompson
This Week…
On this episode, Dr. Erica Thompson joins me to unpack her recent book Escape From Model Land. Erica and I explore the pitfalls of conventional science models - and the opportunities by which models can augment our imagination and collective understanding.
Dr Erica Thompson is a Senior Policy Fellow at the LSE Data Science Institute, where she works on a broad programme of theoretical and practical research about mathematical models, their use, interpretation and social context. She recently authored Escape From Model Land which explores the opportunities and challenges of augmenting our imagination about the future with mathematical tools.
What is a model, and how do our worldviews shape the way they’re made - and conversely, how do they shape our worldviews? How can we rethink and bring creativity into something as scientific as modeling to create maps of the future that are both more accurate and - most importantly - more helpful to planning responses?
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