The World as Database: On the Relation of Software Development, Query Methods, and Interpretative Independence

In the early 1970s, conventional database management systems were challenged by relational database models. Relational search procedures, as proposed by Edgar F. Codd, offered both improved data independence and an enhanced combinatorial freedom for the user. At the same time, late modern concepts of an open text boosted a reader's interpretative independence, bringing to an end the heyday of hermeneutics. This politically significant change of technocultural patterns led to wild debates, and not only among intellectuals. Likewise, the change meant big trouble for software engineers. Advocates of user independence tried to promote their concepts, destabilize adversative suggestions, and gain allies by aggressive claims, heroic narratives, and cooperative publication strategies.