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Anton Howes

@anton-howes · 10 positions · 1 change of mind

Historian of innovation, writing the newsletter Age of Invention on the causes of the British Industrial Revolution and on how inventions actually came about.

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  1. Our reading

    Economics journals have made large datasets and heavy statistics the price of making any causal claim at all, which has squeezed qualitative economic history out of the field.

    Their wordsOver the past few decades, journal editors and peer-reviewers have increasingly insisted that papers must present large datasets that have been treated using complex statistical methods in order to make even the mildest claims about what caused what.

    ↗Age of Invention: Joel Mokyr's Nobelageofinvention.xyz

    Interesting
  2. 8 months earlier

  3. Our reading

    England's deforestation was a consequence of cheap coal rather than its cause.

    Their wordsEngland’s deforestation — along with the draining of its peat-filled fens and marshes, and the clearing of its gorse-growing heaths — was instead itself caused by the arrival of cheap coal.

    ↗Age of Invention: How Coal Really Wonageofinvention.xyz 2nd of 3 in this piece

    Interesting

  5. Our reading

    London did not lead England into coal: coal spread outwards from the Newcastle coalfield, and London was one of the last places to take it up.

    Their wordsFar from being the laboratory that brought coal into the home, then, London was actually a laggard — all the more so given it had been buying coal from Newcastle for centuries.

    ↗Age of Invention: How Coal Really Wonageofinvention.xyz 3rd of 3 in this piece

    Interesting
  6. 16 months earlier

  7. Our reading

    "Lots of anonymous people worked it out by trial and error" is never the real story of an invention: on closer investigation, identifiable people always turn out to be responsible.

    Their words“lots of anonymous people just invented through trial and error and adaptation” just doesn’t cut it for me — I’ve never found such stories to be true upon closer investigation.

    ↗Age of Invention: Lessons from the Rise of Coalageofinvention.xyz 1st of 3 in this piece

    Interesting

  9. Our reading

    Lime is a blind spot in economic history: cheap coal made it widely available as a soil treatment and raised farm output, and the standard growth estimates barely mention it.

    Their wordsYet lime is a huge blind spot for economic historians, despite it increasing the productivity of what was still by far the largest portion of the economy: agriculture.

    ↗Age of Invention: Lessons from the Rise of Coalageofinvention.xyz 2nd of 3 in this piece

    Interesting

  11. Our reading

    The Dutch Golden Age did not end for want of energy: peat and grain were cheaper than ever while its industries were collapsing.

    Their wordsThe Dutch Republic’s Golden Age did not fail because it lacked energy sources.

    ↗Age of Invention: Lessons from the Rise of Coalageofinvention.xyz 3rd of 3 in this piece

    energy

    Interesting
  12. 8 weeks earlier

  13. Our reading

    History has a reproducibility problem worse than science’s replication crisis, because hardly anyone ever goes back to the sources to check what a historian claimed they say.

    Their wordsBut I’ve become increasingly worried that science’s replication crises might pale in comparison to what happens all the time in history, which is not just a replication crisis but a reproducibility crisis.

    ↗Age of Invention: Does History have a Replication Crisis?ageofinvention.xyz 1st of 4 in this piece

    peer review

    Interesting

  15. Our reading

    Historical myths are close to unkillable: once in print they keep being repeated for decades or centuries after being disproved.

    Their wordsHistorical myths are especially zombie-like. Even when disproven, they just. won’t. die.

    ↗Age of Invention: Does History have a Replication Crisis?ageofinvention.xyz 2nd of 4 in this piece

    Interesting

  17. Our reading

    The field of history runs on a trust it has not earned: almost nobody ever checks a citation, so an error can propagate unchallenged indefinitely.

    Their wordsBut it’s hard to trust when you are exposed to one of the most frightening of revelations: that hardly anyone ever bothers to check.

    ↗Age of Invention: Does History have a Replication Crisis?ageofinvention.xyz 3rd of 4 in this piece

    Interesting

  19. Our reading

    Historians should be required to publish photographs or transcriptions of the archival sources they cite, the way scientists are expected to publish their data.

    Their wordsJust as in the sciences it is considered good practice to make one’s data available, in history it should perhaps be a requirement to upload to some public repository the photographs or transcriptions of any cited archival sources that are not otherwise freely accessible online.

    ↗Age of Invention: Does History have a Replication Crisis?ageofinvention.xyz 4th of 4 in this piece

    Interesting