Over at The Nation, Moira Weigel gives a thought-provoking perspective on digital humanities, and identifies some of the field’s intellectual precursors. The idea that big data holds the key to unlocking mysteries of literature and history is the logical extension of a larger cultural obsession with computer analysis; it’s also a little absurd to any number of literature lovers. Weigel looks at a 1976 nonfiction work that attempted to trace the word “culture” through a popular resurgence, and recounts some pitfalls of the burgeoning field of digital humanities.