Governance can't be automated.

Stilgoe, Jack · Science · 2025

editorial · Level V

Where this comes from

Abstract

On the corners of the Holborn viaduct in central London, there are four statues: Commerce, Agriculture, Fine Art, and Science. The figure representing Science looks like she should be in Ancient Greece, but she is incongruously holding a Victorian contraption with two balls on diagonal struts. The object, an advertisement for Britain's technological prowess during the Industrial Revolution, is a flyball governor.