--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Today we understand that reality…" description: "\"Today we understand that reality corresponds to a model - or, even better, the sum of various models - which in science are termed \"complex systems\" - ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8fa/agustin-fernandez-mallo-38917_complex-systems_today-we-understand-that-reality-corresp_2391104.jpg" --- # Today we understand that reality corresponds to a model… ![“Today we understand that reality corresponds to a model - or, even better, the sum of various models - which in science are termed "complex systems" - not complicated or difficult, that's a different thing! This complexity is what creates that which we all know - the World - is connected in a…” quote by Agustin Fernandez Mallo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8fa/agustin-fernandez-mallo-38917_complex-systems_today-we-understand-that-reality-corresp_2391104.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8fa/agustin-fernandez-mallo-38917_complex-systems_today-we-understand-that-reality-corresp_2391104.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8fa/agustin-fernandez-mallo-38917_complex-systems_today-we-understand-that-reality-corresp_2391104.jpg) > “Today we understand that reality corresponds to a model - or, even better, the sum of various models - which in science are termed "complex systems" - not complicated or difficult, that's a different thing! This complexity is what creates that which we all know - the World - is connected in a system of networks - and I'm not referring only to the internet but also to thousands of analog networks in which we are all immersed at every instant.” [Agustin Fernandez Mallo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/agustin-fernandez-mallo/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Reality is best captured by multiple interacting models, not a single simple one; complexity arises from many networks interlinking everything. **In simple terms:** Multiple models explain reality; complexity comes from many linked networks. Key Takeaway Embrace interdisciplinary modeling. Themes complexity systems interconnectedness Mood curious analytical Type explanatory thought‑provoking When to use this quote - science research - policy planning - technology design - education curricula - public communication Key Concepts network theory systems thinking emergence Questions to Reflect On - How can we test the accuracy of overlapping models? - What networks most shape daily life? A Different Perspective Models can be abstract and hard to validate in practice. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Complex systems](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/complex-systems/) [Complexity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/complexity/) [Complexity Creates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/complexity-creates-1613658/) [Complicated](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/complicated/) [Different](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/different/) [Difficult](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/difficult/) [Instant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/instant/) [Internet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/internet/) [Reality](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reality/) [Reality Corresponds](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reality-corresponds-5956115/) [Science](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/science/) [Today](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/today/) [Understand Reality](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/understand-reality-552575/) [Various](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/various/) [World](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/world/) ## Related quotes > [Complexity creates confusion, simplicity focus.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-de-bono/complexity-creates-confusion-simplicity-focus/) [Edward de Bono](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-de-bono/) > [The right amount of complexity is what creates the optimal simplicity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-allen/the-right-amount-of-complexity-is-what-creates-the-optimal-simplicity/) [David Allen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-allen/) > [Implicit in the activist conception of government is the assumption that you can take the good things in a complex system for granted, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-sowell/implicit-in-the-activist-conception-of-government-is-the-assumption/) [Thomas Sowell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-sowell/) > [“Analysing complexity Analysis of complex systems almost always turns on finding recurring patterns in the system’s ever-changing configurations. The game of chess provides a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-h-holland/analysing-complexity-analysis-of-complex-systems-almost-always-turns/) [John H. Holland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-h-holland/) > [Complexity is not a goal. I don't want to be remembered as an engineer of complex systems.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-parnas/complexity-is-not-a-goal-i-don-t-want-to-be-remembered-as-an-engineer/) [David Parnas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-parnas/) > [“Molecular machines display a key signature or hallmark of design, namely, irreducible complexity. In all irreducibly complex systems in which the cause of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/scott-a-minnich/molecular-machines-display-a-key-signature-or-hallmark-of-design/) [Scott A. Minnich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/scott-a-minnich/) > [Anything can happen, and you have to be able to understand the reality of the world that we live in.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erik-spoelstra/anything-can-happen-and-you-have-to-be-able-to-understand-the-reality/) [Erik Spoelstra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erik-spoelstra/) > [I do believe we have to understand why reality turned out to be different than expectations and estimates. But you have more public service…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-kay/i-do-believe-we-have-to-understand-why-reality-turned-out-to-be/) [David Kay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-kay/) > [“When a human in happy time, he/she doesn’t understand the reality! He/she doesn’t realize it until he/she is touched by sadness, pain, poverty, refusal,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/salman-aziz/when-a-human-in-happy-time-he-she-doesn-t-understand-the-reality-he/) [Salman Aziz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/salman-aziz/) > [When you don't understand, you depend on reality. When you do understand, reality depends on you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bodhidharma/when-you-don-t-understand-you-depend-on-reality-when-you-do/) [Bodhidharma](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bodhidharma/) > [“The common worldview, shared by most humans, is that there is one objective reality, and we humans can understand that reality through a rigorous…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/scott-adams/the-common-worldview-shared-by-most-humans-is-that-there-is-one/) [Scott Adams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/scott-adams/) > [“INTROSPECTION: LOOKING WITHIN What is there to say about the inner life? It is as complex as the watery byways of Venice, Delicate as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karyn-d-kedar/introspection-looking-within-what-is-there-to-say-about-the-inner/) [Karyn D. Kedar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karyn-d-kedar/) > [Every generation of humans believed it had all the answers it needed, except for a few mysteries they assumed would be solved at any…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/scott-adams/every-generation-of-humans-believed-it-had-all-the-answers-it-needed/) [Scott Adams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/scott-adams/) > [“Likewise the mind that aims to understand reality can consider itself satisfied only by reducing it to terms of thought.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-camus/likewise-the-mind-that-aims-to-understand-reality-can-consider-itself/) [Albert Camus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-camus/) > [“The attempt to understand reality apart from that action of God in and upon reality means living in anabstraction; it means failing to live…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dietrich-bonhoeffer/the-attempt-to-understand-reality-apart-from-that-action-of-god-in/) [Dietrich Bonhoeffer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dietrich-bonhoeffer/) ## More by Agustin Fernandez Mallo > [In fact, many of the quotes in my books are quotes which were translated from English and that I read already translated into Spanish.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/agustin-fernandez-mallo/in-fact-many-of-the-quotes-in-my-books-are-quotes-which-were/) [Agustin Fernandez Mallo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/agustin-fernandez-mallo/) > [When I use the term "complex realism", what I'm suggesting is that the writer must be realist, always realist, but not realist in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/agustin-fernandez-mallo/when-i-use-the-term-complex-realism-what-i-m-suggesting-is-that-the/) [Agustin Fernandez Mallo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/agustin-fernandez-mallo/) > [The structure of my novels has nothing to do with the narrative mode of cinema. My novels would be very difficult to film without…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/agustin-fernandez-mallo/the-structure-of-my-novels-has-nothing-to-do-with-the-narrative-mode/) [Agustin Fernandez Mallo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/agustin-fernandez-mallo/) > [If there's one thing that can save the novel, it is to make it independent of cinema, to narrate in a way that cinema…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/agustin-fernandez-mallo/if-there-s-one-thing-that-can-save-the-novel-it-is-to-make-it/) [Agustin Fernandez Mallo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/agustin-fernandez-mallo/) > [Not even I, in my original Spanish, am necessarily obliged to make exact quotations. I can do that or not, I can play with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/agustin-fernandez-mallo/not-even-i-in-my-original-spanish-am-necessarily-obliged-to-make/) [Agustin Fernandez Mallo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/agustin-fernandez-mallo/) > [I never enquire into the origin of things, all Origin is a fallacy (in this I follow Nietzsche: origin is a very contested Cartesian…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/agustin-fernandez-mallo/i-never-enquire-into-the-origin-of-things-all-origin-is-a-fallacy-in/) [Agustin Fernandez Mallo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/agustin-fernandez-mallo/) > [I believe every translation is a process in which something is lost in the original precisely so that something is gained in the new…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/agustin-fernandez-mallo/i-believe-every-translation-is-a-process-in-which-something-is-lost/) [Agustin Fernandez Mallo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/agustin-fernandez-mallo/) > [For me, every translation is a new book, with the translator inevitably broadening the meaning of the original book in any translation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/agustin-fernandez-mallo/for-me-every-translation-is-a-new-book-with-the-translator-inevitably/) [Agustin Fernandez Mallo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/agustin-fernandez-mallo/) > [Our senses are always part of the process.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/agustin-fernandez-mallo/our-senses-are-always-part-of-the-process/) [Agustin Fernandez Mallo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/agustin-fernandez-mallo/) [Explore all 10 Agustin Fernandez Mallo quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/agustin-fernandez-mallo/) ## More Complex systems quotes > [The only way to know how a complex system will behave-after you modify it-is to modify it and see how it behaves.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-e-p-box/the-only-way-to-know-how-a-complex-system-will-behave-after-you/) [George E. P. Box](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-e-p-box/) > [When discussing complex systems like brains and other societies, it is easy to oversimplify: I call this Occam's lobotomy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i-j-good/when-discussing-complex-systems-like-brains-and-other-societies-it-is/) [I. J. Good](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/i-j-good/) > [We don't live in a capitalist totality. Capitalism couldn't survive as a totality anyway. We live in this complex system and we already live…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-graeber/we-don-t-live-in-a-capitalist-totality-capitalism-couldn-t-survive-as/) [David Graeber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-graeber/) > [Implicit in the activist conception of government is the assumption that you can take the good things in a complex system for granted, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-sowell/implicit-in-the-activist-conception-of-government-is-the-assumption/) [Thomas Sowell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-sowell/) > [“Interpretation of Complex Systems Kenyon B. De Greene All systems evolve, although the rates of evolution may vary over time both between and within…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/l-douglas-kiel/interpretation-of-complex-systems-kenyon-b-de-greene-all-systems/) [L. Douglas Kiel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/l-douglas-kiel/) > [Global terrorism is extreme both in its lack of realistic goals and in its cynical exploitation of the vulnerability of complex systems.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jurgen-habermas/global-terrorism-is-extreme-both-in-its-lack-of-realistic-goals-and/) [Jurgen Habermas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jurgen-habermas/) > [It is important to understand that while oxytocin may be the hub of the evolution of the social brain in mammals, it is part…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patricia-churchland/it-is-important-to-understand-that-while-oxytocin-may-be-the-hub-of/) [Patricia Churchland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patricia-churchland/) > [The first proponent of cortical memory networks on a major scale was neither a neuroscientist nor a computer scientist but .. a Viennes economist:…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joaquin-fuster/the-first-proponent-of-cortical-memory-networks-on-a-major-scale-was/) [Joaquin Fuster](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joaquin-fuster/) > [You show me a successful complex system, and I will show you a system that has evolved through trial and error.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-harford/you-show-me-a-successful-complex-system-and-i-will-show-you-a-system/) [Tim Harford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-harford/) > [“What’s the point of making predictions if they cannot change anything? Some complex systems, such as the weather, are oblivious to our predictions. The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yuval-noah-harari/what-s-the-point-of-making-predictions-if-they-cannot-change-anything/) [Yuval Noah Harari](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yuval-noah-harari/) > [I believe the evidence strongly supports common descent. But the root question remains unanswered: What has caused complex systems to form?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-behe/i-believe-the-evidence-strongly-supports-common-descent-but-the-root/) [Michael Behe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-behe/) > [What seems interesting to me is to reproduce in the figurative representation of an object the whole complex system of impressions we receive in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-dubuffet/what-seems-interesting-to-me-is-to-reproduce-in-the-figurative/) [Jean Dubuffet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-dubuffet/) > [A rough rule in life is that an organization foolish in one way in dealing with a complex system is all too likely to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlie-munger/a-rough-rule-in-life-is-that-an-organization-foolish-in-one-way-in/) [Charlie Munger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlie-munger/) > [Consciousness, like a complex system of software, has thousands of levels of nested, self-accessing subroutines](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederick-lenz/consciousness-like-a-complex-system-of-software-has-thousands-of/) [Frederick Lenz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederick-lenz/) > [“all these complex systems have somehow acquired the ability to bring order and chaos into a special kind of balance. This balance point—often called…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/m-mitchell-waldrop/all-these-complex-systems-have-somehow-acquired-the-ability-to-bring/) [M. Mitchell Waldrop](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/m-mitchell-waldrop/) [Browse all 94 Complex systems quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/complex-systems/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Today we understand that reality corresponds to a model - or, even better, the sum of various models - which in science are termed \"complex systems\" - not complicated or difficult, that's a different thing! 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