Saramago’s All the Names and the epidemiological dream

Abstract

Language is crucial for all established scientific disciplines in contemporary society, particularly epidemiology. Portuguese writer Saramago wrote All the Names, a book about the Conservatória, a gigantic registry that stores the whole life of an entire population. A parallel is made with the first social observatories that used entire populations for systematic observation, permitting the development of epidemiological methodology. Such “epidemiological dream” almost became true in virtual form with the introduction of electronic data processing. The central thesis of this paper is that Saramago’s Conservatória allegory might be interpreted as akin to the virtual world construed by epidemiological science. Specifically, it is about abstract realities (or theoretical environments) that by definition are necessary for the process of scientific inquiry, particularly when oriented by knowledge production through observational strategies. Reading Saramago, the epidemiological virtualscape may be envisaged, more imaginary than it is usual to imagine and more real than it is usual to realise.