The power that we all have

We think of power in various ways. We think of electrical power, or mechanical power, and so on, with precise definitions (e.g., as energy consumed per unit time, or work done in a given time). We also think of power as military strength, or economic superiority, or the ability to control, or influence, or command the loyalty of, others. 

There are a number of people who we think have great power. Examples are the heads of powerful nations, the generals who command large armies, the religious leaders who have large followings, the CEOs who control large companies, etc. A single word from those individuals can cause major changes in the lives of many people and may even alter the course of history.

Take the case of General of the Army Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander of the US Armed Forces, Southwest Pacific Area, during World War II (lest we forget, he was the one who liberated the Philippines from Japanese occupation). General MacArthur had a huge army under his command. During the operation to take the island of Okinawa, for example, about 300,000 soldiers, with air and naval support, were involved in the invasion.  General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force during World War II, also had a huge army under his command. During the invasion of Normandy, which led to the eventual defeat of Nazi Germany, roughly half a million troops were involved in the operation. In the invasions of Okinawa and Normandy, the soldiers and sailors and flyers who participated had pre-assigned tasks and they performed those tasks in concert to achieve the desired result. For one man to make such large numbers of individuals to move as a unit is quite impressive. I don’t know what command General MacArthur, or General Eisenhower, issued to start those operations. (Readers who are historians may know.) It may have been a simple “Do it!’, “Attack!”, or maybe just “Go!”

General MacArthur and General Eisenhower had absolute control over the movement of several hundred thousand individuals. But only several hundred thousand? That’s not very many. You and I have control over many many more than that.

Let me explain.

There are things that we do every day and many of those things we do instinctively, i.e., without even thinking. We run, we jump, we swim (not all of us), we speak, we hear, and so on. Some of us can even sing well, or play musical instruments. Now, how do we do those things?

Take running. We have several hundred muscles in our body and, when we run, we use many of those muscles — like the muscles in our legs that propel us forward, the muscles that keep our body erect or leaning forward, the muscles that swing our arms, the muscles that we use to breathe, the muscles in our heart that pump blood to supply the other parts of our body with oxygen and food, and several other muscles. 

Now, our muscles are made of cells. We have about 20 trillion, or 20 million million, muscle cells in our body. (Some of us have more, some have less.)  Our cells are made up of mostly water, but there are other molecules — big and small — in our cells. Of the big molecules, the most abundant are proteins. There are roughly 20 million protein molecules in a single cell. The protein molecules in our muscle cells are the ones that cause our muscles to contract, exert force, etc.

We probably don’t use all 20 trillion of our muscles cells and all 20 million protein molecules in each of those cells when we run. Let’s assume that we use just one trillion of our muscle cells and only one million of the protein molecules in each of those cells (those, I’m sure, are gross under-estimates). We would still be using one million million million, or one quintillion, protein molecules when we run. That is a lot of molecules. And those molecules have to act in concert to produce the speed with which we run and the direction in which we are going. 

And all those molecules are under our control. All we have to do is decide to run. We could decide to run fast, or slow. We could decide to turn, or stop. And one million million million molecules instantly obey.

If we jump, or swim, or do something else, again million million million molecules obey our command. When a musician plays his musical instrument, million million million molecules do his bidding.

Million million million molecules are at our command at any instant. Million million million molecules! That dwarfs the numbers that General MacArthur and General Eisenhower caused to move in the invasions that they orchestrated. We have more power than they did. We have great power. 

Even babies do. Babies will run as soon as they are able and they do it by simply deciding to run. 

And not just us. Other animals also can do all sorts of things. Many animals can swim faster than we can run. Many animals can fly, which is something we can never hope to do under our own power. And so on. They too have great power. 

And so do all other living things. Even plants. I can’t begin to imagine, for example, how plants can produce such beautiful flowers. (They don’t have brains that make decisions and issue commands to their molecules — do they?)

We all are marvelous creatures. We all have control over million million millions. We all have great power!

* * *

Eduardo A. Padlan was a research physicist at the US National Institutes of Health until his retirement in 2000. He serves as an adjunct professor in the Marine Science Institute, University of the Philippines Diliman, and is a corresponding member of the NAST. He may be contacted at [email protected].