Jorge Luis Borges similarly references a map as large as the territory in his short story "On Exactitude in Science" (1946).
[8] The idea has influenced a number of modern works, including Robert M. Pirsig's Lila: An Inquiry into Morals and Michel Houellebecq's novel The Map and the Territory, the latter of which won the Prix Goncourt.
[11] Historian of religion Jonathan Z. Smith named one of the books collecting his essays Map is Not Territory.
[12] Similarly, a collection of writings by AI Pessimist Eliezer Yudkowsky was named Map and Territory.
[13] Gregory Bateson, in his 1972 work Steps to an Ecology of Mind, argued that understanding a territory is inherently limited by the sensory channels used to perceive it.
For example, even a cultural belief in colds being caused by spirits can function effectively as a "map" for public health, analogous to germ theory.
Philosopher David Schmidtz addresses the theme of accuracy in Elements of Justice (2006), highlighting how overly detailed models can become impractical, a problem also known as Bonini's paradox.