Gravity is a ubiquitous, omnipotent, invisible force of nature. So too is control. We can’t see gravity, but we can see its effects. We see an apple fall from its tree to the ground, and we make up a convincing story to explain what we see. That particular story is gravity. Similarly, we can’t see control, but we can definitely see its effects. Look around you. Imagine how different it all would have looked 10 years ago, 100 years ago, 1,000 years ago. Our cities, towns, and villages are the way they are because of the controlling efforts of many people. The moving of cars along the freeway at certain speeds and in certain directions is an effect of control. A plate arriving to your table with the meal you ordered on it is another consequence of the amazing process of control. Planet earth would be a very different place without controlling agents as inhabitants.
Gravity is present whether you know about it or not. So too is control. If you jump off a building, you will fall to the ground regardless of how knowledgeable you are about gravity (unless you make use of some special gravity-defying device). Likewise, your body will maintain a stable temperature and will keep the right amounts of things like oxygen and glucose in your blood, even if you don’t know what that temperature or those amounts should be. Also, your arm will deliver a wine glass to your lips whether or not you understand negative feedback and control.
Gravity is going on all the time—it doesn’t have an “off” switch. So too is control. From the time we are born until the time we die, we are “on,” and we are controlling. People are never not controlling. They just control. Control can, however, be interrupted and compromised by things like internal conflict, overwhelming environmental circumstances, and disease. The quality of control can also vary, so people can control some things very well and other things more poorly. Even so, it’s still control all the way down the line.
Gravity is inescapable—except with special equipment. So too is control. Death is the only escape from control. Before that deathly moment, we are controlling many different things simultaneously and continuously. It is certainly the case that we can be prevented from freely controlling all the things that we want to control as well as we want to control them, but control is center stage nevertheless.
Gravity is not good or bad, and it applies equally to all things. Gravity doesn’t care whether the thing you’re releasing from your hand is a rubber ball or an ancient Ming vase. The same laws apply. So it is with control. It doesn’t matter whether you’re thinking about Attila the Hun or Winnie the Pooh, the same laws of control exist. Control also applies regardless of whether you’re baking a cake or robbing a bank. And control applies equally to all living things. Studying the behaviour of a single cell or the behaviour of a charismatic leader involves studying control processes (even if investigators don’t realise that’s what they’re investigating).
People got by without understanding gravity but, once it was understood, they were able to do things that previously existed only in dreams and wild imaginations (and many things that had not existed even in dreams or imaginations). They learned, for example, to propel large metal containers across vast distances. They even figured out ways to put people in these metal containers.
The promise of control is no less astounding. Once an understanding of control and how it works is routine and second nature, we will have the opportunity to make quantum leaps in the way we treat each other, the way global leaders negotiate, the way we conceptualize and address diseases, and the way we tackle problems such as poverty and substance abuse.
We need to embrace control, and we need to understand it. It is the way we are designed. In order to make lasting and substantial improvements to things like social relationships, discrimination, mental health, addiction, social reform, and chronic disease, we need to know how autonomous, organic control works.
We appreciate the importance of knowing the difference between diesel and petrol fuel and being clear about which type of fuel goes in which car. It’s important because a diesel car is not designed to run on petrol fuel. Respecting the way a car is designed, and treating it accordingly, is the most we can do to keep it running efficiently. Similarly, respecting the design of a living thing, and treating it accordingly, is the best way of enabling that thing to function optimally.
Of course, understanding control is not a guarantee that we will all play nicely in the global sandpit, just as understanding the difference between petrol and diesel fuel does not determine which fuel will go in which car. In fact, having that knowledge about fuel would give you the ability to tamper with someone else’s vehicle if that’s what you wanted to do. Understanding gravity enabled people to propel cannon balls as well as planes further than they had before. Discovering bacteria and viruses enabled us to cure devastating diseases but also allowed us to create hideous and terrifying weapons of war.
In the final analysis, people will determine for themselves what they will do with knowledge about control. So, while an iron-clad, water-tight, money-back guarantee can’t be issued, people who understand the phenomenon of control accurately will have within their reach the ability to solve some of our most intractable social problems.
Living things are designed to control. Understanding that simple fact is our greatest promise for a peaceful and ongoing future for our planet.
[I am grateful to Tom Bourbon for his comments and advice on an early draft of this article.]