In the "Political Arithmetic" designed by 17th century English scientist and projector William Petty one can find the first instances of what Foucault later termed "biopolitics": the systematic analysis and technical manipulation of a new epistemological object called "the people". One of its main concerns is condensing the population in order to enhance communication and productivity; another is to "to methodize and regulate" "all persons and things" according to the new, economical criterion of value. If there is a birth of class society in 17th century England it is not only a birth out of the spirit of expanding capitalism, it is also a birth from the political techniques of counting and classifying.