"if accurately reflects reality well enough to learn from" - but are we learning real stuff from that, or only implications from the fake/artificial thing? I me

"if accurately reflects reality well enough to learn from" - but are we learning real stuff from that, or only implications from the fake/artificial thing? I mean for sure we can see that as a brainstorming, exciting by itself, but does that get us closer to understanding the real thing, or it's at the maximum a Plato's cave exercise in rationality?