# model (representation)

A pattern in one thing that is like another thing, so that acting on the pattern can say what the other thing will do.

- Computed level: L9 (depth in the emergence graph, not abstraction)
- Status: review  ·  Domain: knowledge  ·  Arena: common

## Emergence
**Emerges from:** [pattern](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-pattern.regularity), [like](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-like.similarity), [act](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-act.deed), [says](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-says.speech)

**Through:** A regularity in one system resembles another system, and by acting on this compressed resemblance, one can communicate something about the behavior of the original.

**Novel properties:**
- representational function
- predictive proxy
- composable inference

## Examples
- The Bohr model of the atom predicts spectral lines of hydrogen within 0.1% accuracy using quantized electron orbits. *(physics)*
- Mondrian’s 1921 painting 'Composition with Red Blue and Yellow' uses geometric patterns to mirror urban grid layouts. *(art)*
- The 2020 U.S. Census data model projected state-level population shifts affecting electoral college allocations. *(institutions)*

## Used by
- [ahead of its time](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-ahead-of-its-time.premature) (L23)
- [ambiguity](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-ambiguity.state) (L11)
- [authenticity](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-authenticity.state) (L15)
- [benefit of the doubt](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-benefit-of-the-doubt.trust) (L16)
- [best practice](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-best-practice.standard) (L17)
- [big picture](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-big-picture.abstraction) (L15)
- [bleeding edge](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-bleeding-edge.threshold) (L15)
- [boiling the frog](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-boiling-the-frog.drift) (L14)
- [breaking point](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-breaking-point.threshold) (L14)
- [catch twenty two](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-catch-twenty-two.dependency) (L12)
- [certainty](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-certainty.epistemic) (L10)
- [confusion](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-confusion.state) (L15)
- [despair](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-despair.state) (L15)
- [doubt](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-doubt.epistemic) (L15)
- [equilibrium](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-equilibrium.state) (L16)
- [expectation](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-expectation.predicted) (L10)
- [good enough](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-good-enough.threshold) (L16)
- [high level](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-high-level.abstraction) (L16)
- [hindsight is twenty twenty](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-hindsight-is-twenty-twenty.retrospection) (L15)
- [hope](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-hope.emotional) (L15)
- [identity](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-identity.self) (L15)
- [in too deep](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-in-too-deep.path-dependence) (L15)
- [insight](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-insight.cognitive) (L19)
- [institutional memory](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-institutional-memory.path-dependence) (L14)
- [ivory tower](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-ivory-tower.detachment) (L12)
- [known unknown](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-known-unknown.model) (L14)
- [legacy code](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-legacy-code.unmeasured) (L15)
- [missing the forest for the trees](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-missing-the-forest-for-the-trees.abstraction) (L18)
- [on the ground](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-on-the-ground.local) (L14)
- [paradox](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-paradox.ontological) (L11)
- [pride](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-pride.state) (L15)
- [raising the bar](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-raising-the-bar.threshold) (L12)
- [red flag](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-red-flag.warning) (L16)
- [reputation](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-reputation.social-model) (L15)
- [responsibility](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-responsibility.moral) (L15)
- [sanity check](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-sanity-check.trust) (L16)
- [seize the day](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-seize-the-day.window) (L18)
- [self fulfilling prophecy](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-self-fulfilling-prophecy.stacked-dependency) (L15)
- [self-model](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-self-model.reflexive) (L14)
- [shame](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-shame.emotional) (L15)

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*Canonical: https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-model.representation*  
*Structured data: https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-model.representation.json*  
*Every definition provably resolves to space, time, energy and pattern.*