I generally dislike owning things that I can’t physically carry with me at all times (because “if you don’t have something with you, owning it probably hasn’t made you more powerful”).
This seems false on all sorts of levels.
I own a kettlebell. It makes me literally and figuratively stronger.
I have shelves full of performance enhancing substances. They make me stronger and not all of them require that I have them with me or even have a dose currently in my system.
The Nuclear ICMB that I own is too big to carry around but being able to have it launched at will (or even if I fail to report in with a don’t-launch code at regular intervals) certainly makes me more powerful.
I can’t carry a mansion with me, or a racehorse, yacht or business. Yet owning these things changes the way people perceive me and makes them more likely to do what I want. That is power.
Owning the tools of my professional trade has made me more powerful—they allow me to earn more money. I don’t carry them with me at all times.
Owning jacket suitable for wet and cold conditions increases my power—it means I can go to cold wet places without getting cold. I don’t carry with it with me when it’s summer at the beach. I carry my surfboard instead. Generalising this principle I can’t use all my power at once, so I only carry the power enhancing objects that are relevant to the immediate task.
The phrasing I used there is indefensible, but the general idea I’m trying to get at is that many people acquire tons of things which in theory increase their power but in practise don’t because they are never on hand when needed. Added to this are the tons of things many people acquire whose uselessness goes unnoticed because of a general failure to criticize potential acquisitions for power increasing ability at all.
The Nuclear ICMB that I own is too big to carry around but being able to have it launched at will (or even if I fail to report in with a don’t-launch code at regular intervals) certainly makes me more powerful.
This seems false on all sorts of levels.
I own a kettlebell. It makes me literally and figuratively stronger.
I have shelves full of performance enhancing substances. They make me stronger and not all of them require that I have them with me or even have a dose currently in my system.
The Nuclear ICMB that I own is too big to carry around but being able to have it launched at will (or even if I fail to report in with a don’t-launch code at regular intervals) certainly makes me more powerful.
I can’t carry a mansion with me, or a racehorse, yacht or business. Yet owning these things changes the way people perceive me and makes them more likely to do what I want. That is power.
Owning the tools of my professional trade has made me more powerful—they allow me to earn more money. I don’t carry them with me at all times.
Owning jacket suitable for wet and cold conditions increases my power—it means I can go to cold wet places without getting cold. I don’t carry with it with me when it’s summer at the beach. I carry my surfboard instead. Generalising this principle I can’t use all my power at once, so I only carry the power enhancing objects that are relevant to the immediate task.
The phrasing I used there is indefensible, but the general idea I’m trying to get at is that many people acquire tons of things which in theory increase their power but in practise don’t because they are never on hand when needed. Added to this are the tons of things many people acquire whose uselessness goes unnoticed because of a general failure to criticize potential acquisitions for power increasing ability at all.
Remind me not to get on your bad side.
Or, I suppose, live within the fallout radius of anyone on my bad side
That, too.