[dearrifling]

If your model is simple enough to represent the original system accurately, then the original system is not complex.

My model can be complex enough to represent the original system and still be useful. I can iterate on design and make measurements without building the real thing.

[AllegedAlec]

> If your model is simple enough to represent the original system accurately, then the original system is not complex.

No, this is just plain wrong, sorry.

I can describe a population fairly well using one or two ODEs. That doesn't mean that a population of individuals is simple. It's incredibly complex. However, at the meso-scale of just looking at population size and growth rate, my model is accurate (enough).

A model doesn't describe a system at all levels. It simulates the behaviours, whether explicit in the system or emergent from other properties, in order to describe its behaviour at a certain level.

[phoe-krk]

> My model can be complex enough to represent the original system

This does not mean that your model is not complex. It means that the system is simple.

At least, it is simple enough to be represented fully in a model. I think this paradox refers mostly to systems that are too complex to be represented in any model at full accuracy, and must therefore be simplified.

[AstralStorm]

The paradox invokes an absolute. How do you even know the system is "too complex"? Maybe it is too complex for humans but not for a galaxy brain?