Digital Inhumanities: The Poverty of Quantification

Recently I attended a conference wherein a major focus was upon the "Digital Humanities," the latest cause célèbre in English and Philosophy today, oft hailed as the coming savior of our collective disciplines.  In one panel, the presenter showed a digital map of the Book of Matthew, with an interconnecting series of dots of various sizes representing the Book's proper names.  "Can you guess who the biggest dot represents?" asked the presenter.  "Um...Jesus?" we finally said.&n...