@polarisera @MandyJane @Cousin_Isobel @AnungIkwe Ok, I think I understand. You're saying that abstractions can never provide a reliable map of reality. And colleges simply teach popular abstractions, without much by way of useful tools to handle messy reality.

I'm interested because I recently started learning about economics. Lots of stuff I'm unfamiliar with, but it appears that abstractions are their bread and butter. Of course I'm skeptical, but it sounds like you'd go further and say the models are mostly illusory?