Mm, just like we have wave-particle duality, one can also speak of some sort of “force-coordinate duality”, as it were. Just as we let the sine function be linear for small angles, quasiparticles with forces in Cartesian space are wonderful abstractions. Good physics – especially applied physics – is about handling this balance between precision and mathematical/computational simplicity. Mind, research physics can be the opposite; a lot of nuclear involves (often special) relativity as combined with QM. Until we have a unifird theory, however, the graviton and its force ain’t dead yet.