{
  "handle": "BoundedModelOpenWorld",
  "ref": "BoundedModelOpenWorld#a334",
  "stub": "a334",
  "semaId": "sema:BoundedModelOpenWorld#mh:SHA-256:a33485666a4c67900ff103d12c3629590481489d73350ebc122bc15bb5419661",
  "layer": "Mind",
  "category": "Reasoning",
  "gloss": "Complexity is the gap between a bounded model and an open world, and it does not close",
  "mechanism": "Every {{model_as_compression}} is bounded by resources and by what it incorporated when it was built. The world it models is open: exogenous effects arise from what the model never included, and a model cannot fully account for itself. Complexity names this gap. {{computational_irreducibility}}, observer effects and reflexivity hold it open. Every model therefore carries a valid-until date, and the practical question is how a system detects that its model has expired.",
  "invariants": [
    "Complexity is a relation between a model and its world, not a property of the world alone",
    "The gap cannot be closed, only managed",
    "Every model has a valid-until date, whether or not it is known"
  ],
  "failureModes": [
    "Turkey problem: a model fits every available data point and is catastrophically wrong, because the relevant information lies outside the agent's position in information space",
    "Confusing complicated with complex, and treating a hard but closed problem as open",
    "Spending effort to close the gap instead of detecting when the {{model_as_compression}} has expired"
  ],
  "ring": 0,
  "tier": 1,
  "aliases": {
    "model_as_compression": "ModelAsCompression",
    "computational_irreducibility": "ComputationalIrreducibility"
  },
  "buildsOn": [
    {
      "handle": "ModelAsCompression",
      "type": "references",
      "alias": "model_as_compression",
      "url": "/knowledge-graph/ModelAsCompression/",
      "json": "/knowledge-graph/ModelAsCompression.json"
    },
    {
      "handle": "ComputationalIrreducibility",
      "type": "references",
      "alias": "computational_irreducibility",
      "url": "/knowledge-graph/ComputationalIrreducibility/",
      "json": "/knowledge-graph/ComputationalIrreducibility.json"
    }
  ],
  "usedBy": [
    {
      "handle": "EpistemicComplexity",
      "type": "references",
      "alias": "bounded_model_open_world",
      "url": "/knowledge-graph/EpistemicComplexity/",
      "json": "/knowledge-graph/EpistemicComplexity.json"
    },
    {
      "handle": "NaturalProblem",
      "type": "references",
      "alias": "bounded_model_open_world",
      "url": "/knowledge-graph/NaturalProblem/",
      "json": "/knowledge-graph/NaturalProblem.json"
    },
    {
      "handle": "MetaModularity",
      "type": "references",
      "alias": "bounded_model_open_world",
      "url": "/knowledge-graph/MetaModularity/",
      "json": "/knowledge-graph/MetaModularity.json"
    },
    {
      "handle": "InformationGame",
      "type": "references",
      "alias": "bounded_model_open_world",
      "url": "/knowledge-graph/InformationGame/",
      "json": "/knowledge-graph/InformationGame.json"
    }
  ],
  "sources": {
    "research": [
      {
        "slug": "what_is_complexity",
        "title": "What is complexity?",
        "url": "/research/what_is_complexity/",
        "meetups": [
          {
            "title": "What is complexity? - BraInference meetup",
            "dateISO": "2026-08-25T19:00+02:00",
            "url": "https://luma.com/event/evt-3i9DK4gq70ETHBy"
          }
        ],
        "people": [
          {
            "name": "Utku Arslan",
            "url": "/community#utku-arslan"
          },
          {
            "name": "Adam Timlett",
            "url": "/community#adam-timlett"
          },
          {
            "name": "Henrik Westerberg",
            "url": "/community#henrik-westerberg"
          },
          {
            "name": "Arne Steemers",
            "url": "/community#arne-steemers"
          }
        ]
      },
      {
        "slug": "founder_strategies_from_biology",
        "title": "How the most successful founders take their strategies from biology.",
        "url": "/research/founder_strategies_from_biology/",
        "meetups": [
          {
            "title": "How the most successful founders take their strategies from biology.",
            "dateISO": "2026-09-22T19:30+02:00",
            "url": "https://luma.com/event/evt-KFYE0dEAS0c0GsQ"
          }
        ],
        "people": [
          {
            "name": "Arne Steemers",
            "url": "/community#arne-steemers"
          },
          {
            "name": "Adam Timlett",
            "url": "/community#adam-timlett"
          }
        ]
      }
    ],
    "works": [],
    "homePage": false
  },
  "url": "/knowledge-graph/BoundedModelOpenWorld/",
  "graphUrl": "/knowledge-graph#BoundedModelOpenWorld",
  "directory": "/knowledge-graph/patterns.json"
}