“As Wikipedia* helpfully explains, ‘Simon used [[satisficing]] to **explain the behaviour of decision makers under circumstances in which an optimal solution cannot be determined**. He maintained that many natural problems are characterised by computational intractability or a lack of information, both of which preclude the use of mathematical optimisation procedures. Consequently, as he observed in his speech on winning the 1978 Nobel Prize, “**decision makers can satisfice either by finding optimum solutions for a simplified world, or by finding satisfactory solutions for a more realistic world. Neither approach, in general, dominates the other, and both have continued to co-exist in the world of management science**.”’ Since then, I aver, the balance has shifted. The former approach – creating a simplified model of the world and applying a logical approach – is in danger of overpowering the other, more nuanced approach, sometimes with potentially dangerous consequences: **the 2008 financial crisis arose after people placed unquestioning faith in mathematically neat models of an artificially simple reality.**” --- **Tags** -- [[quotes]] , [[the-map-is-not-the-territory]], [[making-decisions]] , [[satisficing]] , [[psycho-logic]] , [[alchemy]] **Source** -- [[202407221554 - B - Alchemy]]