It's Always More Complicated

There was a certain amount of outcry last week on bluesky, and maybe elsewhere, in response to the claim that some AI agent (?Claude) was now capable of taking a historical dataset and producing a coherent article therefrom - to a torrential response of 'and just WHO compiled the dataset, eh?'

Because, indeed, the materials of history are not all already there and laid out ready to be repurposed.

(There's Stuff in archives that is not only Not Yet Digitised - hah - but not yet even catalogued, and let's not even get into the stuff that's lurking in attics and basements and garages and garden sheds and coalholes.)

And there is the whole thing of people going and looking at things, e.g: Author says history of world heritage site in Cornwall needs to be revised: Recently-discovered evidence challenges accepted story:

“[H]istory has a habit of refusing to stand still. Since the book was published, new evidence has emerged, overlooked documents have come to light and fresh research has challenged several long-accepted beliefs about the village.
“That should not surprise us. History is never fixed. Every generation has access to new sources, new technology and new opportunities to examine the past.

And this lately crossed my radar, and pretty much confirmed a thing I have been saying for a long time about A Certain Narrative completely overlooking the one that's delved into here:

The Problem with the Sex Toy Narrative: Design and Medical Intent in Early Vibrators:

Rather than reading vibrators retrospectively through the lens of the modern sex toy industry, it examines hand-cranked and early electric devices from the perspective of design, use, and medical context. Drawing on artifacts, manuals, advertisements, and medical literature from Britain and the United States, the article argues that early vibrators were shaped primarily by therapeutic and cosmetic practices linked to massage medicine, gynecological therapy, and orificial philosophy.

Though alas, there are still people about who are Doing It Rong: 'a case-study of what happens when a writer goes looking for confirmation and calls it research'.