A Process Metaphor in Two Pictures

This is how we understand the solar system today, with the sun at the center:

This is how Ptolemy understood it almost 2,000 years ago:

Ptolemy described movements of the sun and planets as though they are revolving around the Earth.

c0

Guest What?
Ptolemy's model works,[1] even though it's unnecessarily complicated and wrong.

And the Moral?
Any model or process or system can sufficiently account for observed behavior if all the parts stay in their orbits (stop at red lights, do their jobs, show up before the bell rings, rise when the judge enters the courtroom, pay bills, etc etc etc ad infinitum.)

Changing a process because pieces aren't cooperating doesn't fix the process. It just changes the process. The same (very human) problems remain.

[2013-03-28]

c0

[1]
Well, mostly. He had to make some adjustments like putting the Earth a little off-center, so he wasn't perfectly precise, but for 2,000 ago, no telescopes and no computers, he did pretty darn good. I'm sure he'd appreciate my approval.

c0