MIT's own William Deringer is making a splash with his dive into the historical use of data in public debate. The associate professor in the STS Program has snagged attention with his research on how numbers became a staple in our political conversations, especially when the freedoms of the press began to dawn and parliamentary power swelled in Britain between the 1680s and 1720s, according to a report by MIT News.
Deringer, who recently earned tenure at MIT, aims to unravel the threads of quantitative reasoning and its hold on society. "It’s basically about compound interest, and it’s at the center of the most important global question we have to confront," Deringer told MIT News. But he's not to ignore the flaws that come with the territory; while numbers can bolster an argument, they just as easily can mislead or serve special interests.
'Calculated Values', Deringer's 2018 tome, snagged prizes from both the Center for Eighteenth-Century Studies at Indiana University and the History of Economics Society. And he's not resting on his laurels. His upcoming project, in the works and anticipating publication by Yale University Press, promises to delve into the evolution of financial discounting.
The professor's approach is as grounded as it gets – starting from the technical nitty-gritty and spiraling out to the broader historical scope. "For people who use discounting regularly, it’s like gravity," Deringer explained in a statement to MIT News, highlighting the intricacies behind what many see as clear-cut logic. “But if you look at history, what is thought of as rational is part of a very long historical chain of people to apply this calculation in various ways, and over time that’s just how things are done."
Bridging eras and disciplines, Deringer credits MIT's scholarly environment as fertile ground for his foray into the technical thought processes of the past. With his eyes set on examining topics as diverse as English cathedrals' financing and mining industry practices during the Industrial Revolution to the climate crisis of the 21st century, he's piecing together a narrative that underscores the importance and complexity of numbers in shaping public discourse.
