Models can become true by reshaping reality to fit them

Evidence

We must take great care not to ignore the things that are not easily quantified or do not easily admit themselves into our models. The danger, paraphrasing Hannah Arendt, is not so much that our models are false but that they might become true. — Brian Christian, The Alignment Problem, 1426

Categorization

• XREF: Echoes the recidivism self-fulfilling prophecy and the ergodicity discussion — models that alter the world they describe. — connects to: Reality is produced through collective work and action — James W. Carey, Communication as Culture- Essays on…, 386; Closed systems treat aesthetic completion as the proof of their truth — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 859; Illusions that ground action are real, second realities (+7 more)
• SEED: Essay angle on the performativity of models: how metrics and governance models bring into being the realities they purport merely to measure.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Brian Christian, The Alignment Problem, 1426