The Map Is Not The Territory
In 2018, when I came to Madurai for the first time, I decided to visit Meenakshi Amman Temple. I took a cab. The Temple is located in the old crowded part of the city. The cab driver was using Google Maps to navigate. When we were just about to reach the temple, he took a left only to find that the street has been made only one way. It was a temporary measure, so Google Maps didn't show that. We were stuck, so I decided to deboard the cab and took a walk to the temple. That instance was one of many instances in which I realize that a map is not a territory. Territories change all the time, but maps don't.
The concept of “the map is not the territory” was given by the Polish-American philosopher and engineer Alfred Korzybski. He used it to convey the fact that people often confuse models of reality with reality itself. The description of the thing is not the thing itself. The model is not reality.
Maps are made to convey all the relevant information related to the territory conveniently. There will always be an information loss while making the map. A map can't represent all the information related to the territory. If somehow we decide to make a map that completely mimics the territory, it will defeat the purpose of making a map.
These are two important points that I want to make. First, maps get outdated. territory changes all the time, while map can't. Second, a single map can't convey all the information about the territory.
We need a lot of maps to show all the information related to the territory. For example, we have different maps of India, showing different information related to it. A physical map of India will show the physical conditions of India. Political maps will show the boundaries of different states, Union Territories, and the boundaries it shares with neighboring countries. A different map will be required if we want to study the water resources like rivers and lakes.
Here, we have to understand that maps are not India. If we study the map we can't say that we have learned about India. By studying maps we cannot claim that we know about India, its people, and its cultures. India is much more. By studying the map, we can't know anything about the language, customs, cultures, food habits, etc of the people of India.
In every field, people mistake maps for territory.
A few years back I used to be a teacher. During that time, I noticed that students used to put too much emphasis on memorizing the formulas. Formulas are just a representation of a phenomenon.
For example, Newton's second law is represented by F=ma. But, Newton's second law is not just 'F=ma'. Actually, It states that the rate of change of momentum of an object is directly proportional to the force applied. Now, some students used to focus so much on memorizing formulas that by the end of the year, they used to forget that Newton's second law even involved 'rate of change of momentum.
Formulas are maps that we create to represent a concept. But some students become so obsessed with the formulas that they lose their connection with the actual understanding of the concept.
The same thing goes for the examination. Exams were invented to test our learning. They are a means to test our understanding of the concepts. Exam scores are the map and our understanding of the concepts is the territory. But people judge us by our exam scores and what it has done is that now lots of students focus on exam scores instead of actually understanding the concepts. And an entire industry of coaching institutes has propped up to take advantage of this tendency.
All of this has created a system where students are excellent at acing the map but don't have any understanding of the territory. It is one of the reasons that a major chunk of our graduates are not employable.
Another example that I have come to think about is Language. The language was invented to convey ideas. It was a communication tool.
There are different kinds of language. For example, Sign Language doesn't have sound. Languages in many cultures have sound but they don't have any way to write them and they don't feel any need to do so as well. Some languages can be written but people don't use them for verbal communication (Example: Computer languages). and there are many languages that are used in both verbal and written form.
Now, we need to understand that language is just a tool of communication. But we have made it a status symbol. In India, we often look down on people who don't speak good English. In India, English is not just a language, it has become a class.
Stand-up comedian Abhishek Upmanyu has made an excellent video on this phenomenon. He shows brilliantly and hilariously in the video how we make fun of people with bad pronunciation and how we are wrong about it. (Do watch, I highly recommend it).
We need to understand that the language is just a map that we have created to communicate for our convenience. It is not the territory. The main thing is that we should know how to communicate the ideas. That's all.
Another disadvantage of mistaking language as a territory is that a lot of focus is being put on syntax and grammar. Due to this over-emphasis, we think that for writing, our grammar should be immaculate.
The behavior of purists and experts does a disservice to the matter as well. It is one of the main reasons that after completing their education, people don't write. What they don't understand is that writing is all about communicating your ideas and it doesn't matter if the grammar is a little bit here and there. If what they are saying is interesting, people won't care about the absence of immaculate grammar.
And there's no such thing as perfect syntax or perfect grammar. Languages evolve all the time. With evolution, syntax changes. What we should focus on is how to communicate our ideas well. And we will only be able to do so if we decide to write. There's no point in waiting for the moment when our grammar and our vocabulary will be truly perfected. We will only get there by writing more often. People care about ideas, not about how pedantic our writing seems.
Another area where I have often seen people mistaking maps for territory is Investing. I have seen people making investment decisions based on metrics such as P/E ratios, Operating profit margins, Dividend Payout Ratio, Inventory turnover ratio, and so on. These ratios are just representations of the efficiency and profitability of the business.
I understand that these ratios help an investor to compare various businesses and to make a rough understanding of a particular business. But the problem arises when investors make investment decisions solely bases on these ratios. We have to understand that these ratios are just maps, while the actual business is the territory. They become so accustomed to making investment decisions based on these ratios that even after years of investing in the market, they don't develop any worthy insights about how the business is run and what makes a good business. They have spent so much time obsessing over the maps that they don't have any idea about how the territory looks like.
Finally, I would say that to learn something, focus on the territory. Focus on the first principles. Formulas and ratios will take care of themselves if you have an understanding of the underlying concepts. Maps are important, but they are not the territory.
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