Individuals vs. Groups

 

Opening to The Prisoner

Where am I?
In the Village.
What do you want?
Information.
Whose side are you on?
That would be telling. We want information. Information. Information.
You won't get it.
By hook or by crook, we will.
Who are you?
The new Number Two.
Who is Number One?
You are Number Six.
I am not a number- I am a free man!

You may be a free man, but is that man an individual or a group?

The cult classic TV show, The Prisoner, deals with the question of man’s place in society: are we at war with society, or part of that society. If we are not part of society, or society does not include us, then we can be at war with society. If we are part of society, then only if each individual in society is free, can society be free.

Every group, such as society, consist of individuals. If everyone in the group acts together, the behavior of a group can be described as a function. For those who have ever attended a sporting event, individuals acting in concert can create the “Wave”, a function.  Every wave has energy, and therefore a frequency and an amplitude. Material objects also can have a resonant frequency. That is why soldiers crossing a bridge are instructed to break cadence, lest their marching might accidentally be at the resonant frequency of the bridge and their energy destroy the bridge.

The whole duality paradox of light, is it a particle? or is it wave?, may be no more than the difference between the behavior of an individual photon, a particle, and a group of photons, a wave, and that duality is therefore not a paradox. In the controversial finale of The Prisoner, Number One was revealed to be number Six. Society, Number One, is the individual, Number Six. The controversy was among those who view individuals as separate from society. Number Six is not free unless Society is free.