Hello. I have been enjoying reading through these posts - thank you for writing them, and thank you for posting the link on JMG's blog. :)
I just wanted to say that this one made me laugh...
Sun Tzu said: The control of a large force is the same in principle as the control of a few men: it is merely a question of dividing up their numbers.
And that is because we are sheep farmers. And the thing about sheep is, it is WAY easier to move a large group from one place to another than it is to move one or two of them. A group seems to move itself as one smooth flow, while if you want one or two to go HERE they are liable to get jumpy and go THERE... or THERE... or, no, oops, over THERE... WHERE?
This is a thing I have long wondered about and finally heard something that makes sense of it. Apparently most sheep have a strong preference to put themselves in the middle of the herd. That means that a large group of them on the move consists of each individual sheep trying to get itself into the middle - and there IS in fact a substantial middle to get into, and this process neatly holds them together, as you move them smoothly from HERE to THERE. But if there are only one or two, there is no "middle of the herd" place for them to aim for, and their movements are therefore chaotic and unpredictable in the extreme.
moving sheep vs moving people
I just wanted to say that this one made me laugh...
Sun Tzu said: The control of a large force is the same in principle as the control of a few men: it is merely a question of dividing up their numbers.
And that is because we are sheep farmers. And the thing about sheep is, it is WAY easier to move a large group from one place to another than it is to move one or two of them. A group seems to move itself as one smooth flow, while if you want one or two to go HERE they are liable to get jumpy and go THERE... or THERE... or, no, oops, over THERE... WHERE?
This is a thing I have long wondered about and finally heard something that makes sense of it. Apparently most sheep have a strong preference to put themselves in the middle of the herd. That means that a large group of them on the move consists of each individual sheep trying to get itself into the middle - and there IS in fact a substantial middle to get into, and this process neatly holds them together, as you move them smoothly from HERE to THERE. But if there are only one or two, there is no "middle of the herd" place for them to aim for, and their movements are therefore chaotic and unpredictable in the extreme.