Human Computers as Instruments

要理解科学是如何运作的，我们需要理解科学知识是如何产生的。这就需要调查人类在减少、分析和解释数据方面的作用，以及数据是如何通过仪器和实验产生的。该项目对数字计算机出现之前在大型科学企业中历史上减少和分析数据的人的认识作用进行了新颖的跨学科调查。特别是，该项目调查的认知角色的C1-扫描仪内的布里斯托核研究小组1935年至1955年和C2-人类计算机在哈佛天文台1880年至1920年。扫描仪和人类计算机都是女性，来自相对贫穷的背景，她们被雇用为“非熟练”工人，“无意识地”分析数据，被视为使发现和科学知识“更客观”的“理想”候选人。但这些“隐藏的人物”仅仅是“没有头脑的机器”吗？C1和C2之间比较的特殊哲学价值在于：a）识别新的客观性规范;和B）分析科学发现与信用和作者之间的动态。此外，比较是有价值的对比，因为分析的数据是显着不同的：这种扫描仪专门探测感光乳剂板中的宇宙粒子，而人类计算机专门从事恒星光谱特征的识别和分类。人类计算机作为仪器项目将为以下方面提供分析和伦理工具：对大规模合作中的认识性工作和认识性不公正的哲学和规范性评估; B）重新评估科学客观性和科学发现的规范; c）信用，作者身份和科学奖励制度的监管和沟通，以及d）公众参与更复杂的仪器和实验叙述，科学发现和科学奖励制度。这个项目将提供一个重要的平台，让人们更好地了解科学知识是如何在大规模的合作中产生和合法化的，以及科学荣誉如何在这些科学企业中分配。这将是非常宝贵的未来哲学和历史的工作，调查如何科学知识的生产和合法化，在i）其他核乳胶和气泡室项目，雇用扫描仪（例如，布鲁克海文国家实验室的UCL乳胶组和气泡室组1955-1975）;其他雇用人工计算机的观测站或企业（例如19世纪中期至20世纪中期的爱丁堡天文台，NACA/NASA 1940-1965）;以及iii）当代大型科学项目，如大型科学企业（如欧洲核子研究中心）或公民科学项目（如哈勃小行星猎人项目）。

To understand how science works we need to understand how scientific knowledge is produced. This requires investigating both the roles of human beings who reduce, analyse, and interpret the data as well as how data is produced by instruments and experiments. The project undertakes a novel and interdisciplinary inquiry into the epistemic roles of the people historically reduced and analysed data in large-scale scientific enterprises before the advent of digital computers. In particular, the project investigates the epistemic roles of C1-the scanners within the Bristol Nuclear Research Group 1935-1955 and C2-the human computers at the Harvard Observatory 1880-1920. Both scanners and human computers were women, from relatively poor backgrounds, who were employed as 'unskilled' workers to 'mindlessly' analyse the data, being regarded as 'ideal' candidates for making discovery and scientific knowledge 'more objective'. But were these 'hidden figures' merely 'mindless machines'? The particular philosophical value of the comparison between C1 and C2 consists in: a) identification of novel objectivity norms; and b) analysis of the dynamics between scientific discovery and credit and authorship. Additionally, the comparison is valuably contrastive in that the data analysed is significantly different: the scanners specialised in the detection of cosmic particles within photographic emulsions plates, whereas the human computers specialised in the identification of the spectral characteristics of stars and their classification.The Human Computers as Instruments project will furnish analytical and ethical tools for a) the philosophical and normative assessment of epistemic work and epistemic injustice within large scale collaborations; b) the re-appraisal of norms of scientific objectivity and scientific discovery; c) the regulation and communication of credit, authorship, and reward systems in science and d) the engagement of the public in more complex narratives of instrumentation and experimentation, scientific discovery, and reward systems in science.This project will provide an essential platform for a better understanding of how scientific knowledge is produced and legitimised in large scale collaborations, as well as of how scientific credit is apportioned in such scientific enterprises. This will be invaluable for future philosophical and historical work which investigates how scientific knowledge is produced and legitimised in i) other nuclear emulsions and bubble chamber projects which hired scanners (e.g. the UCL Emulsion Group and Bubble Chamber Group 1955-1975, the Brookhaven National Laboratory); other Observatories or enterprises which hired human computers (e.g. the Edinburgh Observatory mid 19th to mid 20th centuries, NACA/NASA 1940-1965); as well as iii) contemporary large-scale scientific projects such as big science2 enterprises (e.g. CERN) or citizen science3 projects (e.g. the Hubble Asteroid Hunter project).