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Rules go stale when terrain changes
Static rules
Reality is messy and complicated, so the urge to simplify it is understandable. When the aim becomes simplification rather than understanding, bad decisions follow. Static rules and policies handle the map and forget that the world is constantly changing.
Maps lag behind change
A map captures a territory at a moment in time, and nothing guarantees it depicts what is there now or what will be there later. The faster the rate of change in the territory, the harder it is for a map to keep up.
Explorers keep maps current
Maps are most helpful in unfamiliar territory, from traveling to a new city to becoming a parent for the first time. Good maps are built through feedback loops created by explorers, who update them based on their own experience in the territory. Closing off or ignoring those feedback loops means missing that the terrain has changed, and it sharply reduces the ability to adapt.
How do volunteers keep maps up to date?
OpenStreetMap, started in 2004 by Steve Coast, is a free world map edited by volunteers who correct it from what they see on the ground. A new road, a closed bridge, or a renamed street can be fixed by the first person who notices. Navigation apps use a similar feedback loop, drawing on location signals from phones to detect traffic and closures. The project is supported by the OpenStreetMap Foundation, a nonprofit based in the United Kingdom.
Why do rivers outrun their maps?
Meandering rivers shift their channels as they erode one bank and deposit sediment on the other. The lower Mississippi has wandered across its floodplain for thousands of years, leaving old channels behind as oxbow lakes. The river was working toward a shorter route to the Gulf of Mexico through the Atchafalaya River. The US Army Corps of Engineers completed the Old River Control Structure in 1963 to keep the Mississippi in its current channel.
Why do beginners lean on rules?
In a 1980 report for the US Air Force, the philosopher Hubert Dreyfus and his brother Stuart, an applied mathematician, described five stages of skill acquisition. Novices follow context-free rules because they lack the experience to see which features of a situation matter. With practice, learners begin to recognize patterns, and experts act largely on intuition built from many past situations. The nurse and researcher Patricia Benner adapted the model to nursing in a 1984 book.