"the map is not the territory"

Following A Wandering North Pole

The location of the magnetic North Pole is moving toward Siberia at about 40 miles per year and every few hundred thousand years, the North and South poles switch positions entirely. Geophysicist Ronald Merrill explains what's known about the inner workings of the Earth's magnetic field. Ronald Merrill’s description of the inner working of the Earth’s magnetic field reminded me of the paradox of cartography. The cartographer’s paradox states that if a map is to be useful, then it must of necessity be imperfect. I remember being taught that you can think of the magnetic field as a bar magnet at the center of the Earth that is tilted about 10 degrees with respect to the rotation axis. Ronald Merrill explains that this is a simplified description of a far more complex and fascinating phenomenon. We still have much to learn about the Earth's magnetic field.