Spreadsheet Knowledge and Production of the “Modern Fact”
Posted on | October 25, 2025 | No Comments
Mary Poovey’s A History of the Modern Fact: Problems of Knowledge in the Sciences of Wealth and Society is one of my favorite books on the rise of the modern economy. A professor of English and director of the Institute for the History of the Production of Knowledge at New York University, she pursued how numerical representation became the preferred vehicle for generating useful “facts” in accounting and other business and financial knowledge.[1]
This post strives to apply Poovey’s insights to the rise of digital spreadsheets and the development of human-machine knowledge by examining how these technologies replicate, extend, and complicate the historical trends she identifies. The digital spreadsheet has been instrumental in shaping modern meaning-making practices by creating a seamless, interactive environment where humans and machines collaborate in the production and interpretation of data. Furthermore, this collaboration has been instrumental in forming a global economy and social organization based on networked spreadsheet rationality.
“Spreadsheet capitalism” is a term mentioned to me by one of my mentors in graduate school and refers to an economic system in which financial models, data analysis, and algorithmic decision-making, often facilitated by digital spreadsheets and related software, become the primary drivers of economic activity, social organization, and value creation.[2] Its origins lie in the increasing financialization of economies, the widespread adoption of personal computers and digital tools, and the belief in data-driven and gridmatic objectivity.[3]
Poovey’s book provides a critical background and framework for understanding how certain forms of knowledge became authoritative and seemingly “objective.” She argued that the rise of double-entry bookkeeping and statistical sciences in the early modern period was not merely a technical advancement but a profound epistemological shift. These systems created a new way of seeing and organizing the world through numerical representation, presenting complex realities as quantifiable and manageable facts.
Poovey emphasizes that this process involved a conflation of descriptive accuracy in emerging accounting practices with moral rectitude and truth, giving numerical data an impression of neutrality and unquestionable authority. And in the process, establishing the authenticity of merchant commerce.
Poovey’s analysis of double-entry bookkeeping highlights its role in standardizing economic information, fostering a sense of accuracy and accountability, and enabling the aggregation of individual transactions into a coherent, verifiable whole. The digital spreadsheet, in many ways, is the direct descendant of this legacy, but with exponentially increased power, interactivity, and reach. This power comes through automation, accessibility, the creation of objectivity, and the production of acceptable facts.
Just as double-entry bookkeeping streamlined manual accounting, digital spreadsheets automated formulaic calculations and data organization, making complex financial and statistical analysis accessible to a much broader audience beyond trained accountants. This accessibility has democratized data manipulation, allowing individuals and small businesses to generate reports and models that previously required specialized expertise.
Spreadsheets, like their analog predecessors, present data in a clean, tabular format that visually reinforces a framing of order, precision, and objectivity. The grid structure and instant calculation updates give the impression that the numbers are “just there,” reflecting reality without bias. However, the data entered, the formulas chosen, and the interpretations drawn are still products of human decision and are subject to potential error or bias.
Poovey argues that facts are not simply discovered but are produced through specific methodological and representational choices. Spreadsheets vividly demonstrate this, as users actively construct “facts” by inputting raw data in lists and categories, applying formulas, and structuring tabular information. The “fact” within a spreadsheet is a result of this human-machine collaboration where the spreadsheet is both the receptor and shaper of knowledge.
Summary
This blog post uses Poovey’s (1998) A History of the Modern Fact, as a framework for understanding the rise of spreadsheet capitalism. It explains that Poovey’s work shows how early modern representational practices such as double-entry bookkeeping created a new kind of knowledge: the quantifiable “fact.” This process gave structured (lists, tables, cells) numerical data an aura of objective truth and moral authority, laying the epistemological groundwork for the modern economy.
In the globalized, financialized economy of today, digital spreadsheets and their more advanced progeny (algorithmic trading platforms such as Bloomberg and Wind, AI-driven analytics) are the direct descendants of what Poovey calls the “modern fact.” They don’t just record economic activity; they actively constitute it. Spreadsheet capitalism operates by taking these quantifiable facts, often collected through networks, and generated by highly abstract financial models, and using them as the basis for global economic decisions.
The post emphasizes that spreadsheets are not neutral tools. Instead, they are digital environments where humans and machines collaborate to actively construct facts through the selection and use of data, placement, and formulas. The post concludes that spreadsheet capitalism is the modern culmination of the historical shift Poovey described. Digital tools don’t just record economic activity; they actively constitute and shape it by generating abstract, quantifiable facts that are used in formulas and functions to facilitate global economic decisions and capital accumulation.
Citation APA (7th Edition)
Pennings, A.J. (2025, Oct 25) Spreadsheet Knowledge and Production of the “Modern Fact”. apennings.com https://apennings.com/technologies-of-meaning/spreadsheet-knowledge-and-production-of-the-modern-fact/
Notes
[1] Poovey, M. (1998). A History of Modern Fact: Problems of Knowledge in the Sciences of Wealth and Society. University of Chicago Press.
[2] Majid Tehranian, a Harvard trained political economist and author of Technologies of Power (1992), was a member of both my MA and PhD committees. He guided my MA direction by suggesting that I focus on deregulation of finance and telecommunications. At some point he mentioned the term “spreadsheet capitalism” and it stuck with me.
[3] The post defines spreadsheet capitalism as an economic system where financial models and algorithmic decision-making, powered by spreadsheets, become the primary drivers of value and social organization. The digital spreadsheet is presented as the direct and far more powerful successor to the bookkeeping systems Poovey analyzed.
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Not to be considered financial advice.
Anthony J. Pennings, PhD is a Professor at the Department of Technology and Society, State University of New York, Korea and holds a joint position as a Research Professor for Stony Brook University. He teaches AI and broadband policy. From 2002-2012 he taught digital economics and information systems management at New York University. He also taught in the Digital Media MBA at St. Edwards University in Austin, Texas, where he lives when not in Korea.
Tags: A History of the Modern Fact: Problems of Knowledge in the Sciences of Wealth and Society > Double-entry bookkeeping > lists > Mary Poovey > Spreadsheets
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Professor (full) at State University of New York (SUNY) Korea since 2016. Research Professor for Stony Brook University. Moved to Austin, Texas in August 2012 to join the Digital Media Management program at St. Edwards University. Spent the previous decade on the faculty at New York University teaching and researching information systems, digital economics, and global political economy
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