Key Concepts, part 1.

 

Degrees of freedom

Degrees of freedom mean e.g. in science, the amount of variables that are not directly dependent. If we think of vehicles, then the train on the rails has one degree of freedom. It only gets forward and backward. Cars have two degrees of freedom. In addition to the previous directions, they also move in a circle clockwise and counterclockwise. Planes have three degrees of freedom because they move up and down in addition to the previous directions. Some industrial robots have up to six degrees of freedom or more.

An employee who receives his income from one employer has one degree of freedom. We can increase the degree of economic freedom in different ways. The number of degrees of freedom applies not only to movement or economic matters, but also to many others. If we control more things, we can increase our freedom. The usefulness of increasing the number of degrees of freedom does not directly mean that more is more. Often one degree of freedom is too little and four too much. The more degrees of freedom, the more deeds, time and money are needed to exploit them. Our systems are also becoming more complex as we increase the degrees.

Couplings/Connections

Couplingss mean the interdependence of things. The world is not very dependent on one person except perhaps the heads of state of the nuclear powers. We can have both tight and loose couplings. Most often, the truth is found somewhere between them. A tight coupling can be found between the steering wheel and the front tires. A connection between them is necessary. The front wheels can also move forward or backward by putting the Reverse on and depressing the throttle or forward without reversing. Tight couplings break more easily than loose ones. As they break down, the whole system breaks down. As the size of the system grows and the connections become tighter, it will sooner or later lead to problems. At the same time, the probability of the entire system breaking down increases. When the tight system breaks down, it is more difficult to keep the damage small and it is more difficult to limit it. Repairing some parts will result in greater damage and worse collapse in the long run. Minor repairs can dramatically speed up system crashes.


Examples of tight links include large banks that are too big to fail because it would lead to the collapse of the current debt-based system. An example of a loose connection is a person whose expenses are much lower than their income, because then the loss of income does not immediately lead to disaster. The problem with loose connections is that we have to compromise on efficiency because not all resources will be used. One of the biggest problems in today’s world is too tight connections. Especially through the internet, most things are interconnected. Today, most investors can be connected, no matter where they are in the world. Almost everyone can buy shares of the same companies through their brokers.

Linearity

A linear system is one in which the input impulse affects the result without feedback. The result does not affect the result of the next impulse in any way. Such a system is very predictable, but by no means particularly effective. A linear system of a fixed-rate bank account because you have a fixed and predictable interest rate that does not change. A fixed rate bank account is not very efficient because it is independent of changes in interest rates during the savings period.

In a nonlinear system, the input pulse also affects the outcome of the next input pulse, changing the system. The outcomes of such systems are difficult to predict. This is because the dependencies of inputs and outputs are not easy to assess as the systems change all the time. The world and its events are mostly non-linear. This is the reason why less is more, the principle works in most of the things we face.