TIME magazine has selected Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia, as its Person of the Year with Al Gore as runner up. These are no doubt good choices from many perspectives but much of the influence which they possess is not because of specific personal creativity or uniqueness of their ideas but rather because of the power of the office which they hold. The exact things which they have done, if they had been done by a man on the street, would not have netted them a free cup of coffee at their local coffee shop. Therefore, I see those awards as going to the office and not to the person.
A more meaningful way to measure human quality would be to specify, at least to some degree, what qualities you are attempting to measure. The Probaway chart of human happiness has a degree of universal human productivity built into it and that seems to be the quality that TIME is attempting to measure. By that measure Putin would be an excellent example of someone on level 10 of the scale: Authoritarianism, with social, political and personal power under group sanctioned and monitored guidance. Craig Venter would rate higher on the chart at level 11: Scienceism, the finding, testing, providing to peers and publishing to all the natural facts of existence. Al Gore would be functioning on level 12 on the chart: Utilitarianism, by the utilizing of all available resources to maximize humanity’s survival and population vigor. I don’t know anyone, off hand, who fits level 13: Constitutionism, the analysis of social bodies with the intent of creating better healthier societies but that would be people like Adam Smith, Machiavelli, Karl Marx, and the framers of the US Constitution. But the highest level on the chart is Theoria the creation of wisdom-enhancing methods with the benefits available to everyone and everything. The public person who best fits that definition of happiness is Cesar Millan, the dog whisperer. He has done more than any other person last year to show people how to relate to dogs and each other with active participatory methods which can be applied by anyone. Although his primary focus is upon dogs, most of what he teaches has universal application. Thus, I rate Cesar Millan as Probaway’s Person of the Year.
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Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: Adam Smith, Cesar Millan, dog whisperer, Gore, happiness, Karl Marx, Machiavelli, man of the year, person of the year, Probaway, Putin, scale of happiness, TIME, Venter
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