Just to make sure we know what we are talking about, I am referring to a “model” that attempts to mimic somehow the behavior of a system, market, customer, etc. No smoking hot individuals here.
Every model is fundamentally wrong. It is a feature of every model. Models start with something as simple as a “rule of thumb” and, through time, they can get increasingly sophisticated and inch closer and closer to perfection. But to have a model that’s exact, would probably require to have the actual thing to tinker with. At that point, it’s no longer a model.
This is where some people get it wrong. If we approach and use models with the expectation that they will eventually get it wrong, we can make better use of them.