Love of Power

The love of liberty is the love of others; the love of power is the love of ourselves.

William Hazlitt

Anyone remember what a Joule is? It’s the international unit for energy. According to the Wikipedia article about it , one joule can be defined by the “work required to move an electric charge of one coulomb through an electrical potential difference of one volt”. And, unless you know what a coulomb and electrical potential blah blah blah are, it’s still a fuzzy concept. The example of 1 joule representing “the amount of electricity required to run a 1 Watt device for 1 second” seems a bit easier to grasp. Kind of. And did you know “160 zeptojoule is about one electronvolt”? Apparently that’s a really tiny amount of energy compared to a “yottajoule (which) is a little less than the amount of energy required to heat the Indian Ocean by 1 °C.” Strive to be the yottajoule.

About the author

William Hazlitt (10 April 1778 – 18 September 1830) was an English essayist, drama and literary critic, painter, social commentator, and philosopher. He is now considered one of the greatest critics and essayists in the history of the English language, placed in the company of Samuel Johnson and George Orwell. He is also acknowledged as the finest art critic of his age. Despite his high standing among historians of literature and art, his work is currently little read and mostly out of print.