I guess you could write a pure technological history that just says what was invented and how it works, but that would be awfully dry and rather uninformative.

I guess you could write a pure technological history that just says what was invented and how it works, but that would be awfully dry and rather uninformative. As soon as you start discussing who did it and why, you’re in the realm of politics, even if not the presidents-and-kings sort of politics. This site is a perfect example. It presents itself as a technical forum where politics is occasionally tolerated but never the focus. And yet you could probably write an entire book about the politics behind the name of the site itself, never mind its history, rules, culture, and means of support.