How to Cite These Archived Letters
Dear Colleague Archive 1985
| Date of Letter | Topic Summary | ID |
|---|---|---|
| 1985-August-19 | "So what have I done this summer? Alas, very little. I have been consuming." Also on the Giant Panda and adaptation by consumption. |
1 |
| 1985-October-15 | On evolutionary biology, causal factors in history..."A world in which interdependence of the parts is "loose" allows greater possibilities for change and innovation. In such a world, disaster in one segment does not necessarily entail disaster in the rest." |
2 |
| 1985-November-01 | On geographers and anthropologists. "Is [fieldwork] an accurate and objective 'picture' of reality, or has the 'picture' become so elaborated that it is a creative construction in its own right? And if it is a creative construction, then has not the truth-searching scholar become, subtly and unknown to himself, a creative artist and a fiction writer?"
|
3 |
| 1985-November-15 | "Knowledge is power, as we all know: it is appropriative." On reproductions and representation of knowledge. | 4 |
| 1985-December-01 | "Questions such as "Yes or no? Shall I press the button or not?" are the stuff of melodramas and nightmares, compared with... inevitable stages and progress, transcending altogether the waywardness of even powerful individuals..." | 5 |
| 1985-December-15 | "When people want to alter nature on a large scale, they find that the fuzzy mental maps in their heads are inadequate to the task. So they produce real plans and maps." On maps as models of reality. | 6 |
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