Counterfactual Thinking as a Scientific Method

Despite their alleged uselessness, we frequently encounter instances of counterfactual thinking in everyday-life situations. During the last two decades, psychologists have examined this phenomenon and have been able to show that counterfactual thoughts about past (and, therefore, unchangeable) events can be useful for the thinker. This article retraces the effects of counterfactual thinking in everyday life and seeks to translate them into an academic context. Can counterfactuals produce similar analytical benefits in the sciences? And if so, what exactly are those benefits? After briefly examining the psychological aspects of counterfactual thinking, the article discusses its potential uses from a general scientific perspective before using counterfactual history as a concrete example. Eventually and for good measure, attention is drawn to the clear and present dangers associated with counterfactual thinking in an academic context

Globalization, communication and the concept of space in global history

'Ein Schwerpunkt der Globalgeschichte liegt auf der Analyse sich verändernder globaler Kommunikations-, Interaktions- und Transfermuster. Solche transformierten Konnektivitätsmuster produzieren neue Räume, welche mit dem physisch-geographischen Raum koexistieren und komplementär zu diesem sind. Die Entstehung, Transformation und Interaktion dieser Räume ist ein zentraler Forschungsgegenstand der Globalgeschichte, mit Hilfe dessen wir Globalisierungsprozesse - wie etwa das angebliche 'shrinking of the world' - besser beschreiben und verstehen können. Zugleich sehen sich globalgeschichtlich arbeitende Historiker immer auch mit dem Problem konfrontiert, ihren globalen Forschungsgegenstand räumlich einzugrenzen. Daher braucht die Globalgeschichte ein neues, inklusives Raumkonzept, das einen Rahmen sowohl für die Arbeit zu sich verändernden Räumen einerseits, aber auch zur Identifikation und Abgrenzung eines Forschungsgegenstandes andererseits zur Verfügung stellen kann. Dieser Aufsatz entwickelt daher ein abstraktes, vielschichtiges und streng relativistisches Verständnis von Raum, dass globalgeschichtlich arbeitenden Historikern helfen kann, beiden Herausforderungen gerecht zu werden.' (Autorenreferat)'To study changing patterns of communication, interactions and transfers is a principal focus of global history. Such shifting connectivity patterns produce new spaces that co-exist with and are complementary to geographic space. The creation, transformation and interaction of these spaces become a central object of study in global history if we want to understand processes of globalization - such as the alleged 'shrinking of the world'. At the same time, practitioners of global history constantly struggle with spatially delineating their field of study. Therefore, global history needs a new understanding of space that provides a framework for both - looking at space as an object of study as well as clearly identifying and demarcating the field of study. In this article, the author proposes an abstract, multi-layered and strictly relativistic understanding of space that will help the global historian to better master both challenges.' (author's abstract

The Development of Telegraphy, 1870-1900: A European Perspective on a World History Challenge

This article puts forward that the study of so-called information societies and of the interplay of information technology and society in general needs to be amended from a historical perspective. Only by looking back further than the 1960s can the concept of an information revolution be critically evaluated. I argue that the study of information societies must at least go back until the invention and spread of electric telegraphy which has brought about the detachment of telecommunication from transport and thus created a virtual space of information. The essay seeks to provide some initial empirical findings in order to facilitate the identification of regional case studies with different degrees of global connectivity. Statistical data from the ITU archives in Geneva has been collected and indexed in order to illustrate how different regions in Europe and the wider world developed in telegraphic terms between 1870 and 1900. It is hoped and anticipated that these initial findings will be refined and shall eventually provide the structural basis for detailed historical comparisons between regions with different points of connection

Metropolitan Telecommunication: Uneven Telegraphic Connectivity in Nineteenth-Century London

Although the United Kingdom has long lost its position at the heart of a practically global empire, the British capital London still continues to stand at the very center of a global telecommunication and information network. Yet, global connectivity is not evenly distributed throughout the metropolis. As recent studies show, information-dependent businesses tend to concentrate in particular quarters in and around the City of London and the West End despite the spatial flexibility that modern telecommunication technology allows for. This study seeks to demonstrate how the modern ‘‘digital divide’’ that rips through London continuously evolved from similarly uneven connectivity patterns in the telegraphic network of late 19th-century London. With the help of historical Geographic Information Systems (GIS), these patterns will be visualized. This examination will show how important a role continuity played in the evolution of modern informational patterns and how this sheds new light on issues of technological dynamism and agency

The Sinhalese Contribution to Estate Labour in Ceylon, 1881-1891

It has become a firmly established belief among economic and labour historians that Sri Lanka’s plantation industry rested almost exclusively on imported Tamil labour during the 19th century. Although strong evidence countering this “dualistic” viewpoint has been produced since the late 1970s—especially by Éric Meyer—, the contribution of the local Sinhalese peasantry to estate wage labour remains underestimated or, indeed, largely ignored. This article strives to support Meyer’s point by bringing together old and new evidence illustrating the at times substantial Sinhalese participation in plantation wage labour

Editorial - Telecommunication and Globalization in the Nineteenth Century

Telecommunication systems dematerialize the information that they transmit and, thereby, detach the flow of information from the movement of material carriers such as people or goods. The immediate effect of such a dematerialization is a substantial gain in transmission speed, which has often been styled as the principal characteristic of telecommunication. Of far greater significance – at least from an analytical perspective – is, however, the relative gain in information transmission speed as against the speed of movement of people or goods. Flows of dematerialized information work along a completely new logic. It is one essential constituent of this logic that wherever telecommunication networks reach information outpaces material transport and can, therefore, be used to efficiently coordinate, control and command such material movement. The telegraph as the first fully-fledged telecommunication system pioneered this qualitative change and introduced a new rationale to global communication – and, therefore, ultimately to globalization processes of the nineteenth century

Telecommunication and globalization in the nineteenth century: editorial

'Telekommunikationssysteme entmaterialisieren die von ihnen übertragene Information und entkoppeln dadurch Informationsflüsse von materiellen Trägermedien wie etwa Menschen oder Dingen. Unmittelbar führt eine solche Entmaterialisierung zu einem beachtlichen Anstieg von Übertragungsgeschwindigkeiten, was häufig als das prinzipielle Charakteristikum von Telekommunikationssystem angesehen wird. Aus analytischer Perspektive viel wichtiger ist allerdings die Beschleunigung des Informationsflusses relativ zur Bewegung von Menschen und Dingen. Entmaterialisierte Informationsflüsse funktionieren nach einer völlig neuen Logik. Da sie für gewöhnlich schneller sind als materieller Transport, können sie selbigen koordinieren und kontrollieren. Der Telegraf als erstes, voll entwickeltes Telekommunikationssystem hat diesen qualitativen Sprung erstmals ermöglicht und so das Funktionsprinzip der globalen Kommunikation (und damit der Globalisierung) des 19. Jahrhunderts komplett transformiert.' (Autorenreferat)'Telecommunication systems dematerialize the information that they transmit and, thereby, detach the flow of information from the movement of material carriers such as people or goods. The immediate effect of such a dematerialization is a substantial gain in transmission speed, which has often been styled as the principal characteristic of telecommunication. Of far greater significance - at least from an analytical perspective - is, however, the relative gain in information transmission speed as against the speed of movement of people or goods. Flows of dematerialized information work along a completely new logic. It is one essential constituent of this logic that wherever telecommunication networks reach information outpaces material transport and can, therefore, be used to efficiently coordinate, control and command such material movement. The telegraph as the first fully-fledged telecommunication system pioneered this qualitative change and introduced a new rationale to global communication - and, therefore, ultimately to globalization processes of the nineteenth century.' (author's abstract

Globalization, Communication and the Concept of Space in Global History

To study changing patterns of communication, interactions and transfers is a principal focus of global history. Such shifting connectivity patterns produce new spaces that co-exist with and are complementary to geographic space. The creation, transformation and interaction of these spaces become a central object of study in global history if we want to understand processes of globalization – such as the alleged “shrinking of the world”. At the same time, practitioners of global history constantly struggle with spatially delineating their field of study. Therefore, global history needs a new understanding of space that provides a framework for both – looking at space as an object of study as well as clearly identifying and demarcating the field of study. In this article, I propose an abstract, multi-layered and strictly relativistic understanding of space that will help the global historian to better master both challenges