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.