Morality, power, persuasion

People want things, and they take action to obtain them. However, in the process of obtaining this item, a person may gain or loss something else. For example, in obtaining a shop item, a person may steal or buy it. However, he may lose something else should he steal it.

In the process of obtaining an item, another person may stand to gain or lose. When another person stands to lose, he would guard against this loss. Similarly, when another person stands to gain, he would attempt to obtain this potential gain. Therefore, in the process of a person attempting to obtain something, other people may stand to gain or lose. This may help or hinder this process.

When a person can obtain something easily, there is a high tendency of him acquiring it. The harder it is to obtain something, the lower the tendency of him acquiring it. The difficulty factor is determined by the person's ability to use his environment to achieve his desired ends, and also the interaction between the ends and environment.

Consider a particle at point A. When there is lower potential on point B than point A, there would be a force acting on the particle to move from A to B. However, when there is a high potential region between A and B, the particle would not move from A to B.

Now suppose the particle has slightly more kinetic energy than the change in potential energy from point A to the potential spike, the particle would then move from point A to point B. Let us raise the potential spike higher now. The particle would oscillate between states of higher kinetic energy and states of higher potential energy, but it cannot reach point B.

We open the particle to another pathway: one which has a lower potential spike, but after crossing the spike, it reaches point C, which has higher potential than point B, but lower potential than A. In this case, the particle would not move to B. It would, instead, oscillate between point A and C, even though the energy change in moving from A to B is greater.

A person wants many things. When someone else offers him something he wants, he is likely to accept the offer. In accepting the offer, he may benefit himself and the person who initiated the offer. In this case, both people can acquire what they want more easily than if they go for it alone. Thus, there is a high tendency for both of them to obtain what they want.

However, when someone else offers him something he does not want, he is unlikely to accept the offer. That someone else would need to force him to take the offer, and this is generally more difficult to achieve than a case of mutual agreement. Thus, there is a low tendency for this transaction to occur.

If a person has the ability take something by force and hold on to it, he would attain it if that is only what he wants. However, a person wants many things. Taking something by force may make it more difficult for him to attain something else in the future. Thus, by taking advantage of the environment, he can make attaining that object easier, which would lead to a higher tendency of him acquiring it. (Think enzymes)

However, in order to take advantage of the environment, one would need to learn how to interact with the environment in such a way that what he wants can be acquired. One can learn many things about the environment by assuming that what applies in the past applies in the future as well. If this assumption is a reasonable one, by studying the environment, one can learn to interact with the environment in such a way that he maximises his gains.

An important part of the environment is the social environment. An interesting thing about social environment is that while interactions with inanimate parts of nature is mostly a means to another end, social interaction is occasionally an end in itself. Playing around with the social environment can be quite tricky as there can be side effects.

If one can utilise the environment well to help him achieve his ends, there is a high tendency for him to succeed in attaining what he wants. By understanding what other people want, he can persuade them to work for him. Persuasion is a way to interact with the social environment to achieve one's goals. By understanding other people's morals and principles, it would more likely be successful.

If all else fails, sheer power works too.