Mercy! Mercy! That Dang Nabed PERCY!

Power, Distribution and Chance

In the power equations for electricity, hydraulics, air, mechanical and nuclear, energy is expressed as a variable counterbalanced by two other variables multiplied by one another. If we know two of the three we can find the missing value through the mathematics of Algebra.

Our earliest ancestors (at some point) realized the importance of Power. Power gave man dominion over the natural environment. This was not just power in a physical sense but corporate power as it relates to influencing the actions of other people. In a physical sense youth, strength, agility and cunning led to tribal leadership. We see this in the animal kingdom where the dominant male has not only first choice of mates but also has the final say in social decision making. This was historically true and until the Greeks came along the male with the biggest biceps and strongest will was leader of the pack. The Greeks provided an alternative to this model.

In corporate decision making they were the first to say that “Good” should be the determining criteria in decision-making. They saw this good as an action that made the world a better place. So better was defined as two goods with one being superior, even though both made the world a better place. However, there could be more than two good courses of action and best was the optimal choice between three or more possibilities. The Greeks realized that the dominant male with the biggest muscles could not always conceive a full and viable range of options. Worse, they could often not pick the best one from a field of three or more. So the Greeks chose to have social decision-making ruled by the optimization of choice rather than the first idea that popped into the mind of whoever happened to be in charge.

This construct has propelled the West into a position of dominance in the world at large. Much of the world is still “Old School” where everyone stands around and wait for the Sultan, King or whatever they’re called, to tell the “Unwashed Masses” how things are going to be. These rulers are seen with a sense of awe and the people fear offending them for the retribution that is sure to follow.

In a Democracy, another Greek invention, the people had a better opportunity to select someone they deemed to be the optimal leader plus the ability to change things if it turned out they were gulled into selecting the wrong person. A charismatic leader does not always have the vision and problem solving skills that underlies a glib tongue. Still, if a Democracy elects an idiot with no real depth beyond a penchant for golden oratory, the society is going to have to suffer through a period where they give him/her the benefit of the doubt, and events a fair opportunity to demonstrate whether or not their choice was a good one. I’ll leave that thread hanging for now.

In the realm of statistics a discovery was made in the past century that showed a relationship between observation and chance. It was based upon a mathematical process called “The Average.” We know that if we take a series of related occurrences and add them up and divide by the number of observations we get this thing called an “Average.” However, there were some problems with averages I'll go into tomorrow.