Prometheus

The eventual shape is a presentation of ideas (slides and a talk). Before anything is shaped, the material has to be true: quotes traced to their texts, positions stated in terms their holders would recognise, and popular misquotes kept out.

A sourced body of research that a later talk can draw on without re-checking. The talk itself is not shaped in this cycle.

• cycles/c117.prometheus/research/: the gathered material
• brand/foundational/sources/: the methodology's own sources, found along the way
• brand/design_methodology.md and app/pages/method.vue: citations

• Kick-off (2026-10-20):
  • Initial prompt captured.
  • Three research files written in parallel, plus an index. Each claim is tagged QUOTE, PARAPHRASE or SECONDARY, and each file has a "Could not verify" section.
• Methodology citation (2026-10-20): brand/design_methodology.md and /method quoted Rittel & Webber (1973) without naming them. They now cite pp. 161 and 166 and end with a Sources section. Commit 786ebd6c0.
• Foundational sources (2026-10-20):
  • brand/foundational/sources/ holds annotated bibliographies of Rittel & Webber and of Axel Roesler.
  • It also holds local copies of the 13 legitimately open full texts: the UC eScholarship IURD series and Roesler's UW faculty pages. Commit 2ed2ad737.
• Sources on the design site (2026-10-20):
  • Two open Deutsch papers (arXiv; author PDF) were added, along with a Deutsch and Popper source list.
  • Seven photos of Roesler, Rittel and Webber were added for internal use. Rittel and Webber exist online only at low resolution.
  • /sources renders the bibliographies. /sources/files/ serves the PDFs and photos (nitro publicAssets), and /method links there.

• Index and cross-file echoes: what each file holds, answers to the prompt's questions, and open items
• 01: Prometheus and ancient fire: Hesiod, Prometheus Bound, Plato's Protagoras, later receptions, fire-bringers in other traditions; ancient warnings about fire, praise of it, and rules for it (Trajan, the Arthashastra, the Zhouli, Exodus, the Vestals)
• 02: David Deutsch and Karl Popper: core ideas with page-cited quotes, Popper's P1 → TT → EE → P2, the lineage, touchpoints with problem formation (including Rittel & Webber's argument against the Popperian model), a "Do not use" list, and summaries at three lengths
• 03: AI from doom to salvation: 41 people in six bands plus reframers, dated shifts in position, collective statements and surveys, and Prometheus and fire as an AI metaphor

On the design site at /sources, from brand/foundational/sources/. The 15 open full texts and 7 photos are served there too.

• Sources index: each person with photo and summary, and a start-here list; local PDFs are on each person's page, and the photos with credits on Photos
• Rittel & Webber: 18 entries, with Churchman (1967) and Buchanan (1992) as context
• David Deutsch and Karl Popper: books, papers, interviews, and where each can be read
• Axel Roesler: 17 entries; Roesler chaired the 2007 thesis
• Joscha Bach and Michael Levin: thinkers shaping our thinking lately, listed for themselves
• Design methodology: now cites Rittel & Webber (1973)

Papers (PDF)

• Rittel & Webber:
  • Rittel & Webber (1973), Dilemmas in a General Theory of Planning; the 1972 working-paper draft
  • Rittel (1966/1971), Some Principles for the Design of an Educational System for Design
  • Rittel (1972), On the Planning Crisis
  • Noble & Rittel (1988), Issue-Based Information Systems for Design
  • Rittel (1969), Decision Theory (WP 115) and Instrumental Knowledge in Politics (WP 116)
  • Webber (1968–69), Planning in an Environment of Change
  • Webber (1963), Comprehensive Planning and Social Responsibility
  • Webber (1968), The New Urban Planning in America
• Roesler:
  • Roesler, Woods & Feil (2005), Inventing the Future of Cognitive Work
  • Roesler (2009), Lessons from Three Mile Island
  • Roesler (2011), Interaction Design in High-stakes Domains
• Deutsch:
  • Deutsch (2013), Constructor Theory
  • Deutsch (2019), Beyond Reward and Punishment
  • Deutsch (2012), "Creative blocks", Aeon (web)
  • The Fabric of Reality (1997) and The Beginning of Infinity (2011): books in copyright, no open copy

Photos: Axel Roesler (2025), Horst Rittel (Ulm, 1959), Melvin Webber (c. 2006). All seven are on the Photos page.