Power in the name of service, competition or war?

Feb 22 2010

Power in the name of service, competition or war?

Post #14 in a series seeking to answer "What is Understanding made of?"

“Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely”
- Lord Acton of Great Britain in an 1887 response to Pope Pious XI proclamation that “all popes are infallible.”

The last distinct component of understanding is power.

As described early in this series, we seek “to understand” in order to fulfill our needs. To gain that understanding, we build models. As those models are validated and become ingrained in our beings, they allow us to fulfill our needs with less and less thought, thus they make us more efficient in pursuit of our goals. They also give each person different sets of skills. Those differences are the source of every person’s potential power. The more power that you feel, the more likely you are to grab onto the model that provides it… and until you see the bigger picture, to fight off all other models that may dilute the power you have become accustomed to.

The power inherent in any model comes from two attributes. The first is its subject. Many models are built to increase perceptions of value; the subject of such models may be physical beauty or the popularity of a brand. Other models are built to explore the flow of different types of subjects be it money and wealth, physical things like the impact of CO2 levels on retained atmospheric heat, or emotional exchanges such as how to compromise in a marriage.

So the subject of a model provides the source of its energy. But power is energy applied in an attempt to change something. That means the second attribute of power is how and to whom that energy is applied. Until it is applied, understanding is nothing more than an ornament.

The application of Understanding’s power

Personal Growth. This is the most benign use of understanding. From it we gain the power to live in the world with less fear because understanding expands our capabilities to deal with life’s many challenges.

Visibility. When our need for personal growth requires us to become better social beings, we develop the power to recognize the needs of others. The first and most benign use of that power is to gain the attention of people around us.

Selfishness. Once we have the attention of other people, or gain the ability to move earth, sea and sky, we often find we also have the power to take things from them.

Saying No. Inevitably the world asks us for something in return, and we are amazed at how much visibility and power comes from refusing to give it.

Service. Some find power by making it easier for others to fulfill their needs. These are people who are more likely to distribute power than to horde it, and in the process increase the total power of the system.

Competition. This is another way to increase the total power of a system, by making it easier for people to learn from each other and push each other to new heights.

Regulation. When a model does not have built in self-controls, or competition provides incentives to ignore controls, regulators use their power to restrict the flow and application of energy by others so that the distribution of power does not become unbalanced. It may not be liked by participants, but regulation is often necessary for the good of the bigger system.

Deceipt, War and Destruction. Finally, there are those who believe their unique understanding is never to be shared, distributed or challenged. They use their power to destroy any competitive and regulatory model, presumably in fear that if they don’t, they will lose the competition and the power they desire. This is the power stance of all models that are in danger of losing validity as the supporting environment changes.

In the end, Lord Acton understood the danger of cementing power in the hands of one individual, even in the name of God. As he concluded, men who hold power without accountability might be considered “great,” but “great men are almost always bad men.” I would like to add to that… assigning any one model all the power to control the flow of goods, services and knowledge might be a desire of great men, but it will almost always be bad for everybody else.