History worth knowing
How the metric system reshaped our minds
9 min
Standardized weights and measures weren't just for trade; they were a radical Enlightenment project to make the world legible to the state. Examine how James C. Scott’s 'Seeing Like a State' explains the loss of local wisdom through quantification.
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Show notes
Exploration of the metric system as a tool of state legibility.
Analysis of James C. Scott's 'Seeing Like a State' and the concept of metis.
The history of the French Revolution's quest for a universal measure.
The tension between local practical knowledge and high-modernist standardization.
In this episode
- 1Intro1 min
- 2The Chaos of the Local2 min
- 3The Enlightenment's Universal Dream2 min
- 4Seeing Like a State2 min
- 5The Resistance and the Loss of Wisdom2 min
- 6Outro1 min
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