Dear Massimo Pigliucci, We’ve had a quite a few vigorous exchanges on twitter on the topic of panpsychism. I’ve learned a lot from these exchanges, but I’m sure you’ll agree it’s hard to tackle issues in any depth with the 140 limit imposed by Twitter. So I’m grateful for t...

Dear Yuval Noah Harari, My name is Andy Norman, and I count myself a fan of your work. I admire your clarity, your passion for big ideas, and your commitment to clear, accessible writing. I think your books—Sapiens and Homo Deus—are landmark achievements, destined to stimul...

Dear Internet, Optimism has been part of my nature for as long as I can remember. As a child I remember watching my favourite football team thinking we’d never lose. I’d believe we could win until the very end of a game no matter how badly we were losing or who the...

Dear Internet, You may be having some thoughts about writing a letter to a public figure on Collate, such as... "Will I get a response to my letter?" We hope so. We are using the letters you write to build the platform the world needs. Letters you write on Colla...

Dear Internet, Many moons ago, while perusing the dusty shelves of a Cambridge University library, I came by chance across an old and worn copy of Hemingway’s Selected Letters. Several hours later, I had forgotten all about the topic I had visited that library to r...

Dear Philip Goff, I am intrigued by your support of panpsychism and would love to run some things past you. I enjoyed your exchange with Massimo Pigliucci on Collate, although I could sense your frustration that some of his key objections seemed to be based on what ...

Dear Daniel Dennett, I have no idea how much interest there might be about disagreements among naturalists between the optimistic ones like you and the pessimistic ones like me. But I know I’d like to be convinced I’m mistaken. And you are probably the philosopher most l...

Dear Simon Armitage, In response to '70 Notices' You spent a long time looking hard to notice seventy things between greyscale streetlit troughs and Dark and White Peaks, saw a full moon bottled in a drop of dew, felt the full weight of Sheffield and Manchester come ...

Dear Timothy Ferris, Over the Easter break, I read your wonderful book, The Mind’s Sky: Human Intelligence in a Cosmic Context. Like you and many others, I am fascinated with the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI). It rests at that wonderful boundary between...

Dear Kevin Love, I write to you as a longtime fan of the Cleveland Cavaliers. Firstly, I want to thank you for being a role model and global ambassador for mental health. For many communities and cultures around the world, topics of mental health are sometimes met w...

Dear Charlie Mackesy, I have enjoyed your work for a long time: the whimsical fluidity of your lines, the delicate colours, and the use of curves, all bring your world to life. But the thing I have enjoyed most of all, is the element of storytelling within your oeuvre, in...

Dear Ali Rizvi, I came across a wonderful correspondence between Matt Thornton and yourself a few days ago. I say wonderful because it is rare to see two people from diverse backgrounds with different worldviews engage in a meaningful and respectful dialogue. Your...

Dear Cornel West, I am writing ask about the concept of "reasonable progress:" when we can reasonably expect progress to arrive? When stuff moves forward -- justice through judicial decisions, paperwork by deadlines -- we may think that the forward motion was in a r...

Dear Jacqueline Wilson, I read your books widely as a child and teenager, and they were very impactful in helping me grow up. Now an adult, I’m a musician and artist, and was struck recently by the development of ‘Poptimism’ within music criticism, and wondered whether a si...

Dear Cheryl Abbate, I was walking through my local university recently and noticed something peculiar. Their student union had organized a petting zoo for students who were about to sit their college exams. It was a nice gesture in some ways. An opportunity for young pe...

Dear Denis Villeneuve, I am a science fiction junkie, and a big fan of your movies. Thank you for giving Blade Runner, Arrival, and Dune the attention and care it deserves. I’m glad these stories get to reach a mass audience. I’m not so sure if they'd fare as well in anoth...

Dear Antonio Guterres, I am writing to express my concern about poverty. I think that it is a vital issue that we need to take immediate action for because it could save many people. I am Victoria Lazaridou, an English Literature student from the University of Roehampton, ...

Dear Anthony Horowitz, I had the enjoyable experience of growing up with your Alex Rider books during my childhood, and also being a fan of Sherlock Holmes, it has also been wonderful seeing you continue those stories. I wanted to write to you regarding something that has...

Dear Scott Aaronson, Will future deep learning models with more parameters and trained on more examples avoid the [url=https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/08/22/1007539/gpt3-openai-language-generator-artificial-intelligence-ai-opinion/]silly blunders[/url] which Gary M...

Dear Natasha Brown, This may sound strange, but I am learning how to write. While I know how to form words, sentences and paragraphs, I am yet to construct anything with rhythm and warmth.  I realized a few years ago in my dreary life as a management consultant that so...

Dear Ollie Barder, I finished watching the 1990s version of Legend of the Galactic Heroes (LOTGH) last night. And I must say that LOTGH is, in my opinion, among the best pieces of space-opera science-fiction ever made. Yoshiki Tanaka is a genius.  So I wanted to thank...

Dear Meghan Griffith, [highlight=transparent]Recently, I’ve been most curious about free will. Unfortunately, my partner is not. And she is tired of me asking her whether or not she believes in free will. So to save her from further misery, I will take my questions and th...

Dear Internet, To New Yorkers, and Conscientious People Everywhere, I wrote this in February 2022, and subsequently published on Medium. I am adding it here on Collate because I sense this is a place being constructed with the most useful powers social media in mi...

Dear Internet, [justify][highlight=transparent]A few weeks ago whilst at our usual Saturday night excursion to the village local, our conversation somehow got onto religion. Someone in our group said something seemingly insignificant, but it sparked a small epiphan...

Dear Internet, [center][i][highlight=transparent]“I should like to open my heart to you henceforth if I may... I plainly see that the truth is the same at Toulouse and at Paris.” — Pascal to Fermat (1654) [0][/highlight][/i][/center] [highlight=transparent]We migh...

Dear Michael Guillen, [highlight=transparent]A few weeks ago, I bought a worn copy of your book, Bridges to Infinity, from my local bookshop. The intriguing cover and table of contents caught my eye immediately. And having read the book, I can see why you won awards as a ...

Dear George Mumford, [highlight=transparent]I bought my second copy of The Mindful Athlete a few days ago. This time, I plan to give it to a friend as a Christmas gift. You see, this friend of mine is facing a series of setbacks and personal hardships. But I am hopeful t...

Dear Internet, When a nobody like myself writes in letter form to a public figure, there is only a small probability that she will see my words amidst the flood of mail and messages that she inevitably receives. Beyond that, there is an even smaller chance that she...