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Lost Paths to Common Sense: The Historical Construction of Risk and Implications for the Present

Lost Paths to Common Sense: The Historical Construction of Risk and Implications for the Present. Risk. Risk “uncertainty” versus “risk” Risk that no one chooses Increasing the areas of certainty. Classification. What is this?. Ranking. How good or bad is this?. Standardization.

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Lost Paths to Common Sense: The Historical Construction of Risk and Implications for the Present

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  1. Lost Paths to Common Sense: The Historical Construction of Risk andImplications for the Present

  2. Risk

  3. Risk “uncertainty” versus “risk” Risk that no one chooses Increasing the areas of certainty

  4. Classification What is this?

  5. Ranking How good or bad is this?

  6. Standardization The proper response should be…

  7. Classification Ranking Standardization What is this? How good or bad is this? The proper response should be…

  8. Instrument = tool system = artifact Handaxe Handaxe Knives Bola Stone Scraper

  9. Instrument = info. tool system = artifact

  10. Long distance merchants have common traits: Committed to risk Need to prevent loss of all kinds Valuable judgment

  11. Merchants create information-driven systems to convert uncertainty into risk. Their systems standardize a new measure, particularly some aspect of time or space. Systems are standardized artifacts produced by a web of users and producers. By looking at old systems, we see what merchants feared and thought could be controlled by information, who had permission to use the system, and what “common sense” was.

  12. ά , γweight of the amphora when empty & full β name of the shipper or owner δ port and taxation information ε additional taxation calculations

  13. Who reads these inscriptions anyway? What does it mean to live in a world of semi-literate people? What kind of economy did the Roman annona create? How much control did merchants have over goods? What kind of information wasn’t gathered and used to control risk?

  14. Why didn’t DEB take off more quickly? Public or private -- what does it mean to write your own story in a new world of books? Why weren’t measures of goods more standardized?

  15. Who decided what the technical standards for ships were to be? How much technical information is needed to estimate risk? How do the terms of standardization reflect power struggles between interested parties?

  16. Q. 6—-What is a superior train ? A. 6—A superior train is one having precedence over other trains. Q. 7—How are right, class and direction conferred? A. 7—Right is conferred by train order; class and direction by time-table. Q. 8—Which is superior, right, class or direction? A. 8—Right is superior to class or direction. Q. 9—What is a train of superior right? A. 9—A train given precedence by train order. Q. 10—A train of superior class? A. 10—A train given precedence by time-table.

  17. Controlling risk in long-distance trade: Goods spoiled Goods not paid for Goods unwanted Goods lost The shipping package The transport vessel The pathway of transport Who standardizes the system?

  18. Pandora’s Washer?

  19. Volvo Gas Gauge http://blogs.edmunds.com/karl/Fuel%20Gauge.jpg Rock Climber http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s174/extragumplease0/rock-climbing.jpg Periodic Table http://facstaff.gpc.edu/~pgore/PhysicalScience/periodic-table.gif Government Terrorist Threat Warning Poster http://www.hodakvalue.com/blog/practical_definitions/ Rescusi-Annie http://www.laerdal.info/images/l/AANIUUUN.jpg Mousterian Tool Kit http://www.wsu.edu:8001/vwsu/gened/learn-modules/ top_longfor/timeline/neander/neander-c.html Railroad Dispatch Center (Union Pacific) http://www.gatewaynmra.org/prototype/UP_Dispatching_Center.jpg

  20. The Moneylender and His Wife, Quentin Massys http://www.wga.hu/art/m/massys/quentin/2/moneylen.jpg Roman Trade Routes http://artemis.austincollege.edu/acad/history/jmoore/RomanTradeRoutesMap.jpeg Monte Testaccio Amphora Titulus Pictus Square of the Corporations, Ostia http://www.ostia-antica.org/piazzale/corp.htm The Rialto http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/arthistory/venicehomepage/rialto_bridge.jpg Luca Pacioli http://www.col-camus-soufflenheim.ac-strasbourg.fr/ telech/Portrait%20of%20Luca%20Pacioli.jpg

  21. Double Entry Bookkeeping Image from author’s dissertation Venetian Account, Double-Entry Bookkeeping Frederick Lane Reconstructed 18th-Century Vessel, Swedish Götheborg http://www.soic.se/4.13382ddb109dc05c6d680002430.html Lloyd’s Cartoon http://www.lloyds.com/About_Us/History/Chronology.htm Lloyd’s Register, 1764 Image from copy of original register Early Lloyd’s Coffee House http://www.lloyds.com/NR/rdonlyres/ D0035F70-5776-4D81-8B04-3E2643BABA6A/0/early_image_2_web.jpg

  22. Train Station in Paris (Levy Bros) http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/19/Train_wreck_at_Montparnasse_1895.jpg/280px-Train_wreck_at_Montparnasse_1895.jpg Train Orders The Train Wire (J. A. Anderson) Nanoscale Pandora’s Washer (Door Open) http://www.tasarimgroup.com/tasarimhaber/resim/silver-nano-samsung.jpg Nanohazard Labels in presenter’s collection Biometric Passport http://www.epassportphoto.com/Blog/post/2008/02/What-Does-a-Biometric-Passport-Indicate.aspx

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