Reviewed by:

• How the world came to be in the computer: On the creation of digital reality by David Gugerli
• Martin Schmitt (bio)

Wie die Welt in den Computer kam: Zur Entstehung digitaler Wirklichkeit [How the world came to be in the computer: On the creation of digital reality] By David Gugerli. Frankfurt a. M.: S. Fischer Verlag, 2018. Pp. 256.

"How was the world transferred into the computer?" This question is the starting point of the fascinating book by David Gugerli, a renowned historian of technology from Switzerland. With his book, he turns the standard narrative of the history of computing on its head. While many historians have asked how the computer changed the world, Gugerli investigates how parts of the world were transferred into the digital. Since the mid-twentieth century, companies, state organizations, individual inventors, and computer users have modeled their respective spheres of influence into digital data—or at least the aspects they deemed important. Gugerli analyzes the grave implications of this costly, lengthy, and sometimes frustrating process in his well-written book.

Methodologically, Gugerli draws on the works of Michael S. Mahoney, one of the founding fathers of software history. Mahoney often demanded a closer look at the social history of computerization. It is important to think of the computer not as exceptional but as ordinary. The social practices that are structured around the machine then come into view. Gugerli elegantly avoids the luring danger of technological determinism, the theory of the machine structuring the world, through examining how users shaped the way their world was modelled to fit into the computer. He also succeeds in moving the history of computing away from heroic stories of men ahead of their time. Even though the academic history of computing has overcome this type of story at least since the end of the Dot-Com boom, it still appears in many popular works. It is therefore an even bigger achievement that the publisher of the book, S. Fischer, also aims at a popular audience. The change of perspective from inventors to users results in a different source base. Instead of interviews or memoirs of computer pioneers, Gugerli's endeavor is informed by scientific papers, reports, announcements, and advertisements. Here, historians find the work procedures, rules, and implementations of how actors prepared the world for computerization. At the same time, these documents generated the attention and the aura of newness that were necessary to keep computerization running.

Gugerli follows this process of computerization in seven chapters in a more or less chronological order. First, he investigates traditional methods of calculation before the computer and how they were changed to fit the machine (ch. 1). It is telling that the engineers described the act of calculating only at the first presentations of calculating machines and only [End Page 657] briefly. The boring, tedious, and complicated task was not to distract the audience from the great future of these machines. In contrast, applications in science, the military, and big business were spectacularly advertised. Consequently, Gugerli does not start with the common first machines, such as Konrad Zuse's Z3 or ENIAC, but with the UNIVAC. This in turn also questions narratives heavily oriented towards IBM.

From a conceptual perspective, it is really helpful how Gugerli breaks down the functions of the computer into four core aspects: sort, classify, calculate, and decide (ch. 2). Programming, often forgotten in many stories of the computer, is the main theme of chapter 3. Drawing on the notion of the "software crisis" of the late 1960s, when software costs rose, demand increased and skilled programmers were scarce (cf. Ensmenger, The Computer Boys Take Over, 2010: 83–110), Gugerli shows how programming became a bottleneck for transferring the world into the computer. With deep technical knowledge and attention to the development of core concepts of computer science, he draws on his earlier work—and that of his working team—on the programmer, end users, and data bases here...

审核人：

• 世界是如何在计算机中诞生的：大卫·古格利谈数字现实的创造
• 马丁·施密特（生物）

Wie die Welt in den Computer kam：Zur Entstehung digitaler Wirklichkeit [世界是如何进入计算机的：论数字现实的创造]作者：David Gugerli。法兰克福 A. M.：S. Fischer Verlag，2018 年。Pp。256.

“世界是如何被传送到电脑中的？” 这个问题是著名的瑞士技术史学家大卫·古格利 (David Gugerli) 撰写的引人入胜的书的起点。通过他的书，他颠覆了计算历史的标准叙述。虽然许多历史学家都问过计算机如何改变了世界，但古格里调查了世界的某些部分如何被转移到数字化中。自 20 世纪中叶以来，公司、国家组织、个人发明家和计算机用户已将各自的影响范围建模为数字数据——或者至少是他们认为重要的方面。Gugerli 在他写得很好的书中分析了这个代价高昂、漫长且有时令人沮丧的过程的严重影响。

在方法论上，Gugerli 借鉴了软件历史的奠基人之一 Michael S. Mahoney 的作品。马奥尼经常要求仔细研究计算机化的社会历史。重要的是不要将计算机视为特殊，而是将其视为普通。然后围绕机器构建的社会实践进入视野。Gugerli 通过检查用户如何塑造他们的世界以适应计算机的建模方式，优雅地避免了技术决定论（机器构建世界的理论）的诱人危险。他还成功地将计算历史从人类超前的英雄故事中移开。尽管至少自互联网热潮结束以来，计算的学术史已经克服了这种故事，但它仍然出现在许多流行的作品中。因此，这本书的出版商 S. Fischer 也瞄准了大众读者，这是一项更大的成就。从发明者到用户的视角变化导致了不同的来源基础。与计算机先驱的访谈或回忆录不同，Gugerli 的努力来自科学论文、报告、公告和广告。历史学家在这里找到了参与者如何为计算机化准备世界的工作程序、规则和实施。与此同时，这些文件产生了保持计算机化运行所必需的关注和新鲜感。Gugerli 的努力来自科学论文、报告、公告和广告。历史学家在这里找到了参与者如何为计算机化准备世界的工作程序、规则和实施。与此同时，这些文件产生了保持计算机化运行所必需的关注和新鲜感。Gugerli 的努力来自科学论文、报告、公告和广告。历史学家在这里找到了参与者如何为计算机化准备世界的工作程序、规则和实施。与此同时，这些文件产生了保持计算机化运行所必需的关注和新鲜感。

Gugerli 以或多或少的时间顺序在七章中遵循了这个计算机化过程。首先，他研究了在计算机出现之前的传统计算方法以及它们是如何改变以适应机器的（第 1 章）。很明显，工程师们只在计算机的第一次展示中描述了计算的行为，并且只是简要地[End Page 657]。无聊、乏味和复杂的任务并不是要分散观众对这些机器的美好未来的注意力。相比之下，在科学、军事和大企业中的应用得到了惊人的宣传。因此，Gugerli 不是从常见的第一台机器开始，例如 Konrad Zuse 的 Z3 或 ENIAC，而是从 UNIVAC 开始。这反过来也质疑了严重面向 IBM 的叙述。

从概念的角度来看，Gugerli 将计算机的功能分解为四个核心方面：排序、分类、计算和决定（第 2 章）确实很有帮助。在计算机的许多故事中经常被遗忘的编程是第 3 章的主题。借鉴 1960 年代后期“软件危机”的概念，当时软件成本上升，需求增加，熟练的程序员稀缺（参见 Ensmenger , The Computer Boys Take Over , 2010: 83–110)，Gugerli 展示了编程如何成为将世界转移到计算机中的瓶颈。凭借深厚的技术知识和对计算机科学核心概念发展的关注，他借鉴了他早期的工作——以及他的工作团队——这里的程序员、最终用户和数据库......