At the beginning of the book, Simon Winchester plays the language game that everybody who ever talks about precision has to: What is precision, accuracy, perfectionism? How are they different? How do they relate?
What Winchester ultimately tells us is a story of intentionality. Our brains create platonic worlds and communicate in platonic ideals. The history of precision is a history that begins in pre-industrial England, but I would propose that it begins with the first stone tools, when humans first began graphing our intent on the universe. It is from there- with flint and rock- that humans first began with an idea and then extruded it into reality.
The machines our industrializing ancestors built- cannons and muskets -were machines of intent. Indeed, the advantages of the original Rolls Royce's and Ford's Model-T came from the intentful design and the intentful manufacturing, respectively. A century later, humankind has graphed our intent onto the most basic structure of the universe. We align atoms in lines and bid them individually to do our bidding.
This book is fantastic, and it uncovers the self-ratcheting power of human precision. It should help those who are interested in scientists, engineers, the history of either, and developmental economics.
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