Modeling

Modeling is one of the most versatile words in terms of its usage. Perhaps everyone starts modeling the moment they are born and they see a new world. I was explicitly introduced to modeling in my first job at lehman brothers. We called evaluating a real estate's price as modeling, in which we populated a big excel file with data and ran some inbuilt programs. Sure it was modeling but a process level modeling which today softwares do. A model is a map of reality, its a purposive description of human experience. Because a model is supposed to help others understand and predict, it always has a scope. Studying a road map of las vegas would not have the same human experience as actually taking a walk on the streets of las vegas. And on the top of it human experience of walking through the same street will vary from one person to another. It is this uniqueness of every human being which has made universal modeling impossible. Newton laws of motion is also a model to understand motion, for centuries it was believed to be a universal model. But when scientist delved into sub-atomic levels new experiences emerged, Einstein and others then modeled same reality but with a larger scope.




Models can be assimilated through studies or can be built through experience. Models can also be explicitly perceived in term of language, mathematics or models can recite tacitly in ones mind. The models we know of consciously are a fraction of all the models that actually effect our action, judgments, value association, happiness, mood, feeling......etc etc. If you ask a successful salesman about secrets to his success, he will only give you a fraction of models which help him do his job better. This is the fraction of which he is consciously aware.




The difference between explicit and tacit models is evident. But complexity of modeling a human experience is actually a function of its scope. Larger the scope greater is the difficulty. One of the greatest modeler is Siddhartha Gautam (budha), he sought to model a solution which would liberate human beings of their sufferings. He modeled buddhism, a religion, a practice which would eliminate models of thinking that lead to suffering. Thus scope of his model was entire human life. In science one of the greatest modeler(who keeps appearing in my blogs now and then) is Einstein who modeled the understanding of phenomenons which are impossible for a human being to experience using their sensory perceptions. Scope of his model extends from a sub atomic particle to speed of light.



"Toh kya karun????" is wat would strike your mind right now. Infact that is what I am also thinking at this point of time... :P This blog is an attempt to understand modeling and models. To understand a model without understanding its scope is pointless. And to model without assimilating its purpose is waste of time.........:)