Every mental model you trust was built by someone who couldn't see the future — only a particular past. The American pragmatist John Dewey noticed something uncomfortable about this: the tools we use to think with are themselves the residue of old problems solved, not neutral instruments waiting to be picked up. A hammer finds nails. A model built around competitive markets finds competitive dynamics, even in situations that are fundamentally collaborative. The model doesn't lie — it just keeps answering the question it was originally designed for, whether that's your question or not. Carry this into today: when a mental model gives you a clean, confident answer, the useful move isn't to trust it or reject it — it's to ask what kind of problem it was invented to solve, and whether yours actually resembles that.

What mental model are you most fluent in — and what category of problem does it consistently make invisible to you?

Drawing from American Pragmatism — John Dewey