Mental Models: Miscellaneous

This section explores a variety of intriguing concepts from various fields, ranging from philosophy and psychology to economics and science. From the ancient wisdom of Ikigai to the modern challenges of planned obsolescence, these ideas offer unique perspectives on human behavior, societal structures, and the world around us.


Simulation Argument

Ikigai

Occam’s Razor

A split screen showing a VR headset to the left and and computer generated female human being on the right side. The illustration is meant to invoke the sensation that we too might be living in a simulation.
The Venn diagram of Ikigai consisting of four overlapping circles (in different colors): What you love, What you are good at, What the world needs and What you can be rewarded for. It also illustrates where passion, mission, profession and vocation fits into this model.
Illustration of Occam's Razor as an old intricately decorated sailor's barber folding pocket knife.

White Elephant

Cassandra Complex

Overton Window

Illustration of the term White Elephant depicting a white elephant with a red ribbon tied in a bow around its neck presented as a gift outside a palace in the desert.
Illustration of the Cassandra Complex when nobody heads your warning as you speak to a large crowd, and then the calamity comes to pass (in this case) in the form of a fire in a grand Greek building.
Illustration of the Overton Window showing the bell curved shape of people's opinion on a certain topic/domain, and the frame of acceptable opinion cutting of the fringe tale ends off the bell curve.

Regulatory Capture

Prisoners’ Dilemma

The Douglas Factors

Illustrating Regulatory Capture with a wolf in sheep's clothing, which represent the way that a company or industry (the wolf) that is being regulated begins to exert control over the regulatory body itself (the sheep's clothing).
Illustration of the Prisoner's Dilemma in which there is a split screen. In the left screen a prisoner is being interrogated, while in the right screen the other prisoner is in his prison cell.
Illustrating the Douglas Factors through a government employee in a brown suit appearing in front a judge in a court room, who is about the rule the verdict.

The Asoh Defense

Dunbar’s Number

Planned Obsolescence

Illustration of the Asoh Defense through a Japanese pilot in his mid 40s (meant to be Captain Kohei Asoh) taking responsibility for his fault in landing the plane in the ocean, with the plane on the water in the background.
Hierarchically inclusive levels of acquaintanceship illustrated as an inverted pyramid of six levels in golden yellow ranging from people you would recognize in your extended network to your kin or your inner support clique.
Illustration giving an overview of how long electronic products last before they are deemed unconsumable, or considered phased out or outmoded (e.g. a new model is introduced), as compared to natural foods and food products.

Epistemic Dependence

The Hedgehog Concept

The Gunsmoke Phenomenon

A young female scientist is looking through a large telescope. The telescope represents the knowledge that has been shared with us by others, and the person looking through the telescope represents us. We can see further than we would be able to on our own, by looking through the lens (body of knowledge) of those who came before us.
Illustrating the hedgehog concept by a split screen showing a hedgehog on one side (left), and a fox on the other (right). The hedgehog views the world through the lens of a single defining/unifying idea (illustrated by one thought-bubble above its head), while the fox have many different interests and ideas which may lead to get distracted (illustrated by several thought-bubbles above its head).
Illustration of the Gunsmoke Phenomenon through the Hollywood Walk of Fame


  • The Scientific Method
  • The Great Filter Hypothesis
  • Evolution and Natural Selection
  • The Monty Hall problem


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