Taking a Mile: The Politics of Measurement

We refer to measurements almost constantly – but are we truly aware of the power they hold? And why do we accept these rigid measurements of time and space? Ahir Shah speaks to James Vincent about his book Beyond Measure: The Hidden History of Measurement, which looks at how we came to define dimensions. “We still have a flexible approach to measuring time.” “You get a lot of measurements that are taken from the human body for example.” “Over time central authorities take the control to define units of measurement.” “If we couldn’t measure, we couldn’t trade, we couldn’t build cities and we couldn’t do scientific research.” https://www.patreon.com/bunkercast Written and presented by Ahir Shah. Lead Producer: Jacob Jarvis. Producers: Jacob Archbold and Jelena Sofronijevic. Assistant Producer: Elina Ganatra. Audio production by Jade Bailey. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices