Home-in The Numbers

Yes. All sorts of numbers, including numbers used to ranking all sorts of things we see, possess, use and waste. All sorts numbers including GDP, Trade deficit, Revenue and Cost. All sorts of numbers including age, race and religion. All sorts of numbers identifying and classifying humans and other creatures. Some numbers do make sense and some numbers don’t. Some need to stop and some need to continue.

Classify humans into age groups? Yes and No. Well physical appearances do matter to classify them including classifications such as young or old; male or female. Intellectually, as educated or uneducated; novice or an expert. Then we start counting them! But why?

All this counting is all about observing a trend, knowing a trend or managing a trend. But does the trend rule out exceptions? Is it fair to say that after 50 you are spent? Is it fair to say that you are too old to remain sharp as young would?

History books are littered with examples to prove them wrong. Time and again we have discovered time does not affect intellectual capabilities of an individual even if the physical capabilities decline. In the industrialized world, big mining trucks can be as easily be maneuvered by a female as by a male or by an old person as by a young person. In fact, more experienced people are usually older, smarter and are more loyal. So the numbers or classifications do change as the world changes with technological and other innovations. What if a company has NOT made use of the services of Dr. Fleming just because he was in his prime 90s? That company couldn’t have been a billion dollar company! Age or age group does not matter as long as the intellectual capabilities stay sharp.

Homing-in on other numbers would now enable us to question the premise on which those numbers were originally derived from to re-adjust them as world changes and generations change.