{"id":6815,"date":"2007-08-24T12:16:13","date_gmt":"2007-08-24T12:16:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/2007\/08\/24\/moon-green-chee\/"},"modified":"2007-08-24T12:16:13","modified_gmt":"2007-08-24T12:16:13","slug":"moon-green-chee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/2007\/08\/24\/moon-green-chee\/","title":{"rendered":"Moon: Green Cheese"},"content":{"rendered":"\u23f3 Approximate reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> mins<\/span><\/span>

Whether or not the moon is made of green cheese is of no concern to my dissertation. Because I make other claims, however, Latour’s account of the performance of statements and things in Science in Action<\/em> (1987) applies:<\/p>\n

[W]e have to remember our first principle: the fate of a statement depends on others’ behavior. You may have written the definitive paper proving that the earth is hollow and that the moon is made of green cheese but this paper will not become definitive if others do not take it up and use it as a matter of fact later on. You need them to make your paper a decisive one. If they laugh at you, if they are indifferent, if they shrug it off, that is the end of your paper. A statement is thus always in jeopardy, much like the ball in a game of rugby. If no player takes it up, it simply sits on the grass. To have it move again you need an action, for someone to seize and throw it; but the throw depends in turn on the hostility, speed, deftness or tactics of the others. At any point, the trajectory of the ball may be interrupted, deflected or diverted by the other team–playing here the role of the dissenters–and interrupted, deflected or diverted by the players of your own team. The total movement of the ball, of a statement, or an artefact, will depend to some extent on your action but to a much greater extent on that of a crowd over which you have little control. (104)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Must every statement be written as if<\/em> it will endure the perpetual jeopardy Latour names? Not necessarily. But–and this gets at the challenge of making statements–“the total movement…of a statement” should be, to the extent possible, anticipated, even if this requires granting too much clout to the crowd (i.e., audience in action<\/em>).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u23f3 Approximate reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> mins<\/span><\/span>Whether or not the moon is made of green cheese is of no concern to my dissertation. Because I make other claims, however, Latour’s account of the performance of statements and things in Science in Action (1987) applies: [W]e have to remember our first principle: the fate of a statement depends on others’ behavior. You…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[69],"tags":[713,714,668,715,178,716,470,489,185,717,701,710,140],"class_list":["post-6815","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dissertation","tag-audience","tag-cheese","tag-circulation","tag-claim","tag-composition","tag-crowd","tag-dissertation","tag-latour","tag-rhetoric","tag-rugby","tag-sport","tag-statement","tag-writing"],"yoast_head":"\nMoon: Green Cheese - Earth Wide Moth<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/2007\/08\/24\/moon-green-chee\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Moon: Green Cheese - Earth Wide Moth\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u23f3 Approximate reading time: 2 minsWhether or not the moon is made of green cheese is of no concern to my dissertation. Because I make other claims, however, Latour’s account of the performance of statements and things in Science in Action (1987) applies: [W]e have to remember our first principle: the fate of a statement depends on others’ behavior. You...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/2007\/08\/24\/moon-green-chee\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Earth Wide Moth\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/derek.mueller\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/derek.mueller\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2007-08-24T12:16:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Derek Mueller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Derek Mueller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.earthwidemoth.com\\\/blog\\\/2007\\\/08\\\/24\\\/moon-green-chee\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.earthwidemoth.com\\\/blog\\\/2007\\\/08\\\/24\\\/moon-green-chee\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Derek Mueller\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.earthwidemoth.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/66fc5e80a62f53057760790b1cfeb24b\"},\"headline\":\"Moon: Green Cheese\",\"datePublished\":\"2007-08-24T12:16:13+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.earthwidemoth.com\\\/blog\\\/2007\\\/08\\\/24\\\/moon-green-chee\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":322,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.earthwidemoth.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/66fc5e80a62f53057760790b1cfeb24b\"},\"keywords\":[\"audience\",\"cheese\",\"circulation\",\"claim\",\"composition\",\"crowd\",\"dissertation\",\"Latour\",\"rhetoric\",\"rugby\",\"sport\",\"statement\",\"writing\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Dissertation\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.earthwidemoth.com\\\/blog\\\/2007\\\/08\\\/24\\\/moon-green-chee\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.earthwidemoth.com\\\/blog\\\/2007\\\/08\\\/24\\\/moon-green-chee\\\/\",\"name\":\"Moon: Green Cheese - Earth Wide Moth\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.earthwidemoth.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2007-08-24T12:16:13+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.earthwidemoth.com\\\/blog\\\/2007\\\/08\\\/24\\\/moon-green-chee\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.earthwidemoth.com\\\/blog\\\/2007\\\/08\\\/24\\\/moon-green-chee\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.earthwidemoth.com\\\/blog\\\/2007\\\/08\\\/24\\\/moon-green-chee\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.earthwidemoth.com\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Moon: Green Cheese\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.earthwidemoth.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.earthwidemoth.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"Earth Wide Moth\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.earthwidemoth.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/66fc5e80a62f53057760790b1cfeb24b\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.earthwidemoth.com\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":[\"Person\",\"Organization\"],\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.earthwidemoth.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/66fc5e80a62f53057760790b1cfeb24b\",\"name\":\"Derek Mueller\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/www.earthwidemoth.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/04\\\/cropped-bmartwork.png?fit=1220%2C480\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/www.earthwidemoth.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/04\\\/cropped-bmartwork.png?fit=1220%2C480\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/www.earthwidemoth.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/04\\\/cropped-bmartwork.png?fit=1220%2C480\",\"width\":1220,\"height\":480,\"caption\":\"Derek Mueller\"},\"logo\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/www.earthwidemoth.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/04\\\/cropped-bmartwork.png?fit=1220%2C480\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/www.derekmueller.net\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/derek.mueller\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.instagram.com\\\/dereknmueller\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/user\\\/dnmueller\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.earthwidemoth.com\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/dmueller\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Moon: Green Cheese - Earth Wide Moth","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/2007\/08\/24\/moon-green-chee\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Moon: Green Cheese - Earth Wide Moth","og_description":"\u23f3 Approximate reading time: 2 minsWhether or not the moon is made of green cheese is of no concern to my dissertation. Because I make other claims, however, Latour’s account of the performance of statements and things in Science in Action (1987) applies: [W]e have to remember our first principle: the fate of a statement depends on others’ behavior. You...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/2007\/08\/24\/moon-green-chee\/","og_site_name":"Earth Wide Moth","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/derek.mueller","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/derek.mueller","article_published_time":"2007-08-24T12:16:13+00:00","author":"Derek Mueller","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Derek Mueller","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/2007\/08\/24\/moon-green-chee\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/2007\/08\/24\/moon-green-chee\/"},"author":{"name":"Derek Mueller","@id":"http:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/66fc5e80a62f53057760790b1cfeb24b"},"headline":"Moon: Green Cheese","datePublished":"2007-08-24T12:16:13+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/2007\/08\/24\/moon-green-chee\/"},"wordCount":322,"publisher":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/66fc5e80a62f53057760790b1cfeb24b"},"keywords":["audience","cheese","circulation","claim","composition","crowd","dissertation","Latour","rhetoric","rugby","sport","statement","writing"],"articleSection":["Dissertation"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/2007\/08\/24\/moon-green-chee\/","url":"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/2007\/08\/24\/moon-green-chee\/","name":"Moon: Green Cheese - Earth Wide Moth","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2007-08-24T12:16:13+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/2007\/08\/24\/moon-green-chee\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/2007\/08\/24\/moon-green-chee\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/2007\/08\/24\/moon-green-chee\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"http:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Moon: Green Cheese"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"http:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/#website","url":"http:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/","name":"Earth Wide Moth","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/66fc5e80a62f53057760790b1cfeb24b"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"http:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"http:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/66fc5e80a62f53057760790b1cfeb24b","name":"Derek Mueller","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/cropped-bmartwork.png?fit=1220%2C480","url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/cropped-bmartwork.png?fit=1220%2C480","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/cropped-bmartwork.png?fit=1220%2C480","width":1220,"height":480,"caption":"Derek Mueller"},"logo":{"@id":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/cropped-bmartwork.png?fit=1220%2C480"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.derekmueller.net\/","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/derek.mueller","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/dereknmueller\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/dnmueller"],"url":"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/author\/dmueller\/"}]}},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7tdGk-1LV","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6550,"url":"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/2006\/05\/02\/its-what-youre\/","url_meta":{"origin":6815,"position":0},"title":"It’s What You’re Doing When You’re Doing What You Look Like You’re Doing","author":"Derek Mueller","date":"May 2, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"It looks like I'm working on the last seminar paper. Ever. Two thousand credit hours later, I'm at the end of coursework, writing the last paper. And oh lordamighty does it need work. I presented the outline in class back in April. The response came, \"That's a superb and amazing\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Academe"","block_context":{"text":"Academe","link":"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/category\/academe\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6948,"url":"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/2008\/05\/16\/foragingsummer\/","url_meta":{"origin":6815,"position":1},"title":"Foraging\/Summer Reading","author":"Derek Mueller","date":"May 16, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Writing a dissertation involves a lot of what my director calls foraging. Having worked on my dissertation for a year and a day, I appreciate this distinction more than ever between foraging and reading, even if \"reading\" remains too capacious a practice to pin down. Foraging (i.e., picking back through\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Reading Notes"","block_context":{"text":"Reading Notes","link":"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/category\/reading_notes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/img\/summreading.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":7187,"url":"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/2009\/02\/27\/postcard\/","url_meta":{"origin":6815,"position":2},"title":"Postcard","author":"Derek Mueller","date":"February 27, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Here is a piece of mail that arrived today: a postcard from a thoughtful, support-for-when-you-really-need-it company called Academic Ladder. The absence of a bona fide postage stamp makes me think this came to me via bulk mailing, but in case it was sent to me alone, I share it here\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Dissertation"","block_context":{"text":"Dissertation","link":"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/category\/dissertation\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/img\/postcard.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6683,"url":"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/2007\/01\/21\/an-account\/","url_meta":{"origin":6815,"position":3},"title":"An Account","author":"Derek Mueller","date":"January 21, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Latour, in ch. 5 of Reassembling, writes this of \"slowciological\" accounts: What is an account? It is typically a text, a small ream of paper a few millimeters thick that is darkened by a laser beam. It may contain 10,000 words and be read by very few people, often only\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Academe"","block_context":{"text":"Academe","link":"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/category\/academe\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7188,"url":"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/2009\/03\/05\/crunchy-sweet\/","url_meta":{"origin":6815,"position":4},"title":"Crunchy Sweet","author":"Derek Mueller","date":"March 5, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Because 1.) dissertation jokes are funnier to me these days than they will ever again be for the rest of my life and because 2.) I had a floaty-full bowl of whole grain Cheerios for lunch today, check this from McSweeney's, \"From My Unfinished Doctoral Dissertation on Breakfast Cereals,\" by\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Dissertation"","block_context":{"text":"Dissertation","link":"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/category\/dissertation\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6715,"url":"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/2007\/03\/10\/disstraction\/","url_meta":{"origin":6815,"position":5},"title":"Disstraction?","author":"Derek Mueller","date":"March 10, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"I've refurbished the exam notes blog, Exam Sitting, and converted it to a dissertation blog. I suppose I'll use it to post notes and other gems of speculation. I've never dissertated before, so it's not entirely clear yet just how useful such entries will be. All the same, I'm convinced\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Dissertation"","block_context":{"text":"Dissertation","link":"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/category\/dissertation\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6815","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6815"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6815\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6815"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6815"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6815"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}