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This article traces the origins of Kenneth Wilson's conception of effectivefield theories (EFTs) in the 1960s. I argue that what really made thedifference in Wilson's path to his first prototype of EFT are his long-standingpragmatic aspirations and methodological commitments. Wilson's primary interestwas to work on mathematically interesting physical problems and he thought thatprogress could be made by treating them as if they could be analyzed inprinciple by a sufficiently powerful computer. The first point explains why hehad no qualms about twisting the structure of field theories; the second why hedivided the state-space of a toy model field theory into continuous slices byfollowing a standard divide-and-conquer algorithmic strategy instead of workingdirectly with a fully discretized and finite theory. I also show how Wilson'sprototype bears the mark of these aspirations and commitments and clear up afew striking ironies along the way.

Drawing Scales Apart: The Origins of Wilson's Conception of Effective Field Theories