Power

We can understand certain characteristics of populations by comparing them to a simulated, random population. Just as the spectra of stars tells us something about the progress of their lives, the amount of power people have over their lives (including their perception of where they are relative to where they want to be) can indicate how satisfied they will be, how long they are likely to live, how violent they are likely to be, how many resources they will use, and how their population will grow. We can use a simple mathematical model and some basic statistics for a sample of countries to study these relationships

Simulation

In a simulated population of 1,000 individuals who prefer their own "position" within a fixed range of values, we can randomly set both their starting values and their preferred position (or "comfort zone"). How close they get to their preferred positions depends on two variables: power and intelligence.

  • Power is the fraction of distance between their starting position and their preferred position ("comfort zone") that they can cover in an arbitrary interval of time.
  • Intelligence is a measure of a person's perception of where they are relative to their preferred position. The magnitude of intelligence (amount) is the fraction of actual distance people believe they are from their preferred position; for example, if their actual distance is 3 and they believe the distance is 1, then the magnitude of intelligence is 1/3, or 0.33. The sign (+ or -) of intelligence is "+" if a person perceives the preferred position in the correct direction from the current position, and "-" if the perceived direction is opposite from the correct direction.

We can set ranges of power and intelligence for the population and randomly assign values of power and intelligence to each member of the population. For ease of analysis, we can combine the ranges of power and intelligence into a single variable called "adjusted power." Adjusted power starts with no power and ends with maximum power and (positive) intelligence. From 0 to 25% of the maximum, intelligence is entirely negative; from 25% to 75% intelligence is a mix of negative and positive, and from 75% to 100% intelligence is entirely positive.

Happiness and Adjusted Power

People's satisfaction with their lives has been measured in various countries. This "happiness" can be modelled in the simulated population (specifically, it is the ratio two numbers: the distance between a person's final position and the furthest point they can go from their preferred position, and the distance between their preferred position and that furthest point). Happiness varies measurably with adjusted power, so from happiness we can derive the associated adjusted power.

There are clear correlations between happiness and such real variables as freedom, life expectancy, per capita ecological footprint, per capita violence, and population growth (these are described in Happiness). We can therefore see how these variables change with adjusted power. We can also see how the fraction of the population that has positive intelligence (what I call "awareness") varies by country. This data is summarized below for a sample of 43 countries for which all the statistics are available, and includes statistical curve fits to the data that extend beyond the data's limit to 100% adjusted power.

Click for larger image.

For definitions (of all but "awareness") and references, see Happiness. For calculations, download the spreadsheet. Data is listed below, in order of decreasing adjusted power.

Rank
Country
Violence
Freedom
Happiness
Footprint
Lifespan
Adjusted Power
Awareness
Deaths
Pop. Growth
GPC
1
Denmark
14
92
82
49
77
83
100
11
1
82
2
Colombia
5
56
81
11
71
82
100
6
16
18
3
Finland
41
92
77
64
78
77
100
10
1
74
4
Australia
54
97
77
55
80
77
100
7
6
76
5
Canada
55
90
76
64
80
75
100
8
4
82
6
Norway
25
92
76
49
79
75
100
10
3
89
7
Ireland
19
90
76
42
77
75
100
8
7
88
8
Mexico
18
69
76
22
72
75
100
5
17
26
9
Netherlands
21
90
75
37
79
74
96
9
3
76
10
United States
58
90
74
81
77
72
91
9
5
100
11
New Zealand
58
93
72
50
78
70
82
8
7
60
12
Germany
11
85
72
38
78
70
82
10
-1
74
13
United Kingdom
57
84
71
47
78
68
78
10
1
70
14
Saudi Arabia
1
7
70
39
68
67
75
6
31
34
15
Spain
17
85
69
45
79
65
71
9
0
57
16
Italy
4
81
69
35
79
65
71
10
-1
70
17
Slovenia
8
84
67
29
75
62
66
10
-1
51
18
Chile
26
81
67
19
76
62
66
6
11
28
19
Uruguay
10
87
67
16
76
62
66
9
8
27
20
Indonesia
1
58
66
9
69
60
63
6
16
9
21
France
14
83
65
47
79
59
61
9
3
71
22
Greece
2
76
64
42
79
57
59
10
0
48
23
Czech Republic
17
82
64
41
75
57
59
11
-2
41
24
Japan
3
85
62
37
81
54
55
9
2
79
25
India
2
70
62
7
63
54
55
9
15
7
26
Kyrgyzstan
0
32
61
11
64
53
53
9
17
8
27
Portugal
28
90
60
35
76
52
52
10
1
51
28
Poland
7
83
59
28
74
50
50
10
0
27
29
Korea, South
2
77
58
34
75
49
49
6
9
52
30
Hungary
9
83
56
29
72
46
45
13
-4
37
31
Slovakia
5
81
55
27
74
45
44
9
1
33
32
South Africa
93
81
55
19
45
45
44
19
2
27
33
Turkey
6
52
52
18
72
40
38
6
12
20
34
Estonia
3
78
51
55
70
39
36
13
-4
29
35
Romania
3
75
50
20
71
37
33
12
-2
19
36
Azerbaijan
0
22
49
14
63
36
30
10
9
9
37
Latvia
3
81
47
22
69
33
23
15
-6
20
38
Bulgaria
3
73
42
26
72
24
0
14
-6
17
39
Georgia
1
55
41
7
65
22
0
15
-3
7
40
Belarus
4
16
40
28
68
20
0
14
-4
22
41
Ukraine
1
56
36
27
67
11
0
16
-7
11
42
Moldova
2
56
35
11
65
9
0
13
1
6
43
Zimbabwe
59
19
33
8
37
5
0
24
1
8

Note that as intelligence becomes entirely positive, resource use and violence peak. After that point, people start using less, assaulting each other less, and continue to become more satified with their lives. Freedom also drops, perhaps because people have enough power that they don't need any more from their governments.

Also note that per capita Gross Domestic Product roughly predicts happiness and, to some extent, lifespan up to a point, beyond which it has little effect.

© Copyright 2008 Bradley Jarvis. All rights reserved.