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SOME NOTES ON GEOGRAPHY AND SOCIAL ENGINEERING
Author(s) -
Douglas Robert,
Lightfoot Paul
Publication year - 1972
Publication title -
antipode
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.177
H-Index - 98
eISSN - 1467-8330
pISSN - 0066-4812
DOI - 10.1111/anti.1972.4.1.80
Subject(s) - ideology , law , front (military) , sociology , history , politics , political science , geography , meteorology
"Clara, trying not to reveal too much of the secret of her involvement, told him that she was working with prisoners who had been described to her as the bloodhounds of imperialism, but that on getting to know them better they had turned out to be quite different. And one question kept bothering her, and she let Lansky answer it: were there, after all, innocent men among them? Lensky listened carefully and replied calmly, "Of course there are. That is inevitable in any penal system." "But Alexei! That would mean that they can do whatever they want! That's terrible."… "No," he said softly but convincingly," not 'whatever' they want. Who 'wants' anything? Who 'does' anything? History. To you and me that sometimes seems terrible, but Clara, it's time to get used to the fact that there is a law of big numbers. The bigger the scope of an historical event, the greater the probability of individual errors, be they judicial, tactical, ideological, economic. We grasp the process only in its basic, determining forms, and the essential thing is to be convinced that this process is inevitable and necessary. Yes, sometimes someone suffers. Not always deservedly. What about those killed at the front? And those who died meaninglessly in the Ashkhabad earthquake? And traffic fatalities? As traffic increases so will the number of traffic victims. Wisdom lies in accepting the process as it develops, with its inevitable increment of victims." But Clara shook her head indignantly. "Increment!" she exclaimed …. "The law of big numbers should be tried out on you!" (24)