British capitalism was a knowledge economy that lived on reliable numerical information. We argue that human computers and the algorithms they used played a vital intermediation role and supported the growth of the British capital market, because they resolved digital information asymmetries. Given the lack of an archive for 'Cyberpunk Victoria', we demonstrate the computers' role as financial intermediaries by identifying their imprint on the production of data by a prominent numerical factory, the Investor's Monthly Manual, a companion publication of the Economist. Our study underscores the import of digital mechanization and the relevance of human cybernetics to the development of financial capitalism. K E Y W O R D Scomputers, financial regulation, interest rates, media, scandals 'Steampunk' is a retro-futuristic science fiction specialty that incorporates technology, politics, and aesthetics inspired by the nineteenth century. In The difference engine, a novel by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling that is credited with having popularized the genre, the authors imagine an alternative Victorian era sparked by successful implementation of Charles Babbage's computer, which would have left the drawing board where it remained in fact to be actually implemented, leading to the dawn of the information age, one century ahead of schedule. 1 In this article, we suggest that the nineteenth century did witness a numerical revolution and the birth of an early form of cybernetics, which have been thus far overlooked. Speaking of 'cybernetics' in the nineteenth century may seem strange to some and deserves an explanation. As we show, the digital 1 Gibson and Sterling, Difference engine.
How do nonhuman animal welfare campaigns influence the institutional use of nonhuman animals? This article narrates an episode of nineteenth century history of Geneva, pertaining to the use of nonhuman animals in science, to argue that welfare advocacy is a risky, and indeed sometimes counterproductive, endeavor. In the late nineteenth century, the mainstream Genevan animal welfare group (SGPA) refused to condemn vivisection, and decided to side with Moritz Schiff, a controversial physiologist, provided that he later accepted respecting certain welfare standards in his experiments. The SGPA defended Schiff against the charges of the Genevan abolitionists, and thus provided a metaphorical certificate of “humane treatment” to the vivisector. Behind this moral shield, the laboratory could expand its practices, undisturbed by the need to legitimize them. This episode illustrates the phenomenon of “capture” of the welfarist group by the institutions from which animals are supposed to be protected in the first place.
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