The virtue of simplicity

05 Jul 2011

A week or so ago I was fortunate enough to be included in the annual Research Day at UCL's Department of Science and Technology Studies, where staff, students and Honorary Fellows get together to hear what everyone is up to. I presented a brief overview of some of the themes of our project (rather less adequately than Richard did at the Joseph Banks conference) but, more importantly, was inspired by some of the papers I heard.

One of these was from Matthew Paskins, who is a doctoral student working on 'The Society of Arts and cultures of invention and experiment'. His paper was called 'Simple machines', and highlighted the frequency with which machines and tools considered by the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (f. 1754) were praised for their simplicity. As Mat pointed out, the SoA demonstrates an alternative intellectual property regime to the one we're familiar with for this period of industrial revolution, steam engines and patents, focusing as it did on small technologies for use in environments like workhouses, prisons and ships.

With its focus on the public good, and its offer of prizes, or premiums, for potential solutions to specified problems, there are fascinating parallels to be drawn with the Board of Longitude. There are numerous cross-overs, for example in the facts that John Harrison submitted a design to the SoA and that Captain Bligh's Bounty voyage was given the BoL's K2 timekeeper, while also hoping to win a SoA premium for the successful transplantation of breadfruit. 

However, there are also interesting differences, and this issue of simplicity is one. Mat outlined the various meanings and contexts of this word for machines and technology at the SoA, and much of his list struck me as a polar opposite to what Harrison was producing as he laboured on his third sea timekeeper (or, indeed, the process of calculating lunar distances). The videos Jonathan Betts has done on the conservation of H3 (Pt 1, Pt 2, Pt 3, Pt 4, Pt 5 and Pt 6) show just how very, very complex it was - how unlikely to have been usable, adaptable, mendable and replicable by others, or even himself. Even the 'winning' design, H4, had to be adapted, simplified and redesigned by others before it became a practical device - and even then it required skilled users and the distribution of accurate time by astronomers. It was doing a different thing, of course, but Mat's list of 'simplicities' certainly got me thinking:

1) Freedom from friction
This was a basic element of simplicity, and does invite comparison with Harrison's use of the naturally lubricated wood lignum vitae in his clocks. However, this usage also includes the idea of freedom from obstruction, disorder and complexity within the design.

2) Liberality
In this sense, the workings of the machine were understood to be open to view, easily explained by the maker and comprehensible to others. This was in line with the idea that the SoA offered premiums in lieu of patents, encouraging knowledge to be shared and improvements replicated. Harrison, of course, had to be pushed hard to 'discover', or reveal, the hidden workings of H4 to the BoL committee.

3) Natural resemblance
Linking with natural theological ideas, schemes and machines were viewed as more 'simple' if they worked in analogy to natural processes or productions. This made them more fit, more pleasing, less disruptive and more obviously beneficial, as following the example of the Creator.

4) Adaptability
The commendable simplicity of some of the ideas judged by the SoA was presented as making them usable in different ways and in a range of contexts and locations. The opposite of complex, specialised tools, fit for only one job, such machines were seen to be good value, obviously beneficial and easy to use.

5) Division of labour
Here, Mat was inspired by his readings of Adam Smith and Charles Babbage. Rather than deskilling, he noted that the simplicity of the tool or process was commended for making production more efficient and for allowing the individual using it to understand it thoroughly and, by this expertise, to have the opportunity to invent improvements, thus improving both the machine and, perhaps, make his name.

6) Cheapness
Machines that were cheap to build, cheap to replicate and less likely to break were seen as obviously good, in part because they would give greater independence to individuals who could now afford them.

7) Antiquarian
The SoA's secretary, Arthur Aikin, was much interested in antiquarianism and frequently gave addresses to the Society that linked it to manufacture and applied science. His theme was in part how technologies have aided human culture, improved lives, but also included laudatory comments on the simplicity of ancient machines. Perhaps linking back to the idea of natural resemblance, there was something to learn about machines of earlier, 'simpler', more 'natural' times.