Definition
The technocratic fallacy that a formal system eliminates whatever it does not represent. Under this assumption, unrepresented variables, qualitative context, and social friction are treated as if they cease to exist once an automated model takes over a process.
Ethotechnics counters it with a rule: what a model does not represent is unresolved, not eliminated. Because formal models are necessarily incomplete, model incompleteness has distributive consequences: the omitted reality collides with the world, creating residual complexity that must be carried by someone. Treating the model boundary as the boundary of institutional responsibility allows operators to capture the gains of simplification while disclaiming the costs of its fallout.
Tests that show it is in place
- The institution keeps responsibility for harmful outcomes whose causes fall outside the system's feature set.
- Unrepresented edge cases are logged as model limitations needing repair, not dismissed as user error.
References
- What does not convert · Theory
- Core axioms · Doctrine