Aishwarya Hariharan Week 12: How Important is Power?
How Important is Power?
When we think of power, we think of it as the power people hold. Even being teenagers, our minds don’t go to the power that is being used to run all the necessities of life such as electricity first. Well, how important is power? In both aspects.
Let's start off with the power that people hold. Is it important? Honestly even though it is abused at times, we fail to realize that it’s crucial to keep this world stable to a certain level. If there was no one that had the power to enforce rules on citizens, every individual would do exactly what they felt was right to them and it would lead to a world full of chaos which could potentially lead to the end of this universe. Until I thought deep into it, I realized how much I talked about individuals having power as a negative circumstance. In all honesty, even if this world isn’t perfect, power is holding up this world in a large amount of ways. For example, if we didn’t have enforced speed limits, everyone would drive in all directions, in any speed they want based on their situation and it would lead to car accidents nearly everywhere. Although some people do still go over the speed limit when they are in a rush which is breaking the rules, it’s something else for everyone on the road to do. At the end of the day, giving power to a certain number of people is what is holding up the universe even if we fail to realize it.
Obviously, we also have the power that gives us electricity. Now that is very important. It’s hard to believe, but in every household, we use about 5000-7500 watts of power in ONE day. Yes, in one day, crazy to think. We underestimate the amount of power we use because we use those devices all the time. For example, right now, I’m using power to do this blog post. Well, that’s how important power is to our lives. We use power almost every second of our lives whether we are doing homework, looking on social media, watching the news, listening to the radio, warming something up in the microwave etc. We use all these so many times a day, whether we are sitting bored, when we are hungry, when we want to be updated on the news, in the car, at school and practically everywhere we go. It makes me wonder, what would we do if power was taken away from us for a week?
Truthfully, I only realized how important power is in our lives after thinking about this assignment. We get our internet, tv, and devices to work so easily that it’s insane to think there is so much behind it that we forget from time to time.
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You have a very Hobbesian or Roussueanian view of the world and I think our state of politics right now influences that greatly. Either way, there are definitely positives in regards to power, and I am glad that you pointed that out because a lot of what we take for granted today is thanks to the power of power! I definitely need to stop envisioning power as a king with a crown on his head sitting on a throne, but more like an invisible force that drives people to make certain decisions or gives energy to objects in order to make certain actions.
ReplyDeleteHey Aishwarya, I think you bring up a great point about the importance of power. We often resent those in power or find some faults in our leaders but often, even a flawed government is better than none. There are already such horrible things happening in the world and it's scary to contemplate how much worse this could get if there were no more power dynamics to keep it in check and anarchy reigned. Electrical power is something that is also exceedingly important and I think was brought up once before too. There is little that we would be able to do with power as our entire world and the sanity of individuals is so heavily based upon it, both on the political type of power and the electrical form.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that it's crucial for governments to have the power to set rules and guidelines to ensure the safety of their citizens. I never realized the importance of these lights until I went to India and rarely saw traffic guidelines. In India, people honk all the time and drive pretty rashly—something that would definitely get someone a ticket in America. The power of enforcing safety rules is that over time it becomes a norm, kind of like a requirement to wear a seat belt, and people will be judged by the public for not keeping up with it. In my opinion, that is more important than a fine or ticket.
ReplyDeleteHi Aishwarya! I like your take on power and I found this blog quite interesting to read. When the topic of power is brought up, we often think of the power individuals hold, but not of the power that we all rely on and take for granted: electricity and the power of nature. There are so many things I would not be able to do if we didn't have electricity. Natural powers such as the sun not only provide crucial vitamins, it also keeps us warm enough to survive. There are so many different takes on power that we often overlook.
ReplyDeleteHi Aishwarya, when you mentioned how surprised you were when you discovered how much power the average (American) uses, it reminded me of the high consumption of Americans. Many American citizens expect bright red tomatoes in supermarkets, high-speed wifi, laundry, and other first-world luxuries. It's fascinating to see how out-of-touch many Americans are from the situation of people in other countries where a power outage is common and fresh food is very uncommon.
ReplyDeleteHi Aishwarya,
ReplyDeleteHonestly, when I first saw Power as the topic for our blog post, my mind instantly went to electrical power. It was probably because I was recently discussing electricity and power calculations in my Principles of Engineering course. I don't really know how to define power other than as "the stuff that allows us to do stuff," "allows" being the operative word. Whatever we are allowed to do can be good or bad, but that is separate from how power enables us to do it. So, is electrical power important? That would be asking whether how we use electricity is important. When is it important for power to enable us?
Hi Aishwarya. Power is such a broad term encompassing all sorts of definitions ranging from physical power, to this social construct that humans created. There are different degrees to the power people hold, whether it be within their own household, classroom, or over an entire country. Nevertheless, I think it is important to have some form of control in a world with so many people.
ReplyDeleteHi Aishwarya! I like your holistic view of power, as you pointed out (in your previous blog posts) the negatives of power, and now you are showing and acknowledging the true "power" of power in running the world. Who runs the world? Power. Quite literally, because putting power in lawmakers and rules allows the world to function efficiently. Electrical Power additionally really is important in today's ever-technological world. Although power is negative in excess, I think the somewhat balance that is present in most societies throughout the world works well (for the most part) in maintaining structure, order, and progress.
ReplyDeleteHi Aishwarya, I definitely agree. Someone has to be the leader. Anarchy is a crazy state of affairs and could lead to people destroying one another. And, regarding electricity, we really do use more power than is good for the planet, and more power than is necessary. Conserving electricity is a very important topic that needs continuous improvement. Devices that save power or have alternative forms of power are a necessity in our modern society. Taking power away for a week may be good for some people who are burned out from modern devices.
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