Locus of Effect

 

The center of gravity symbol

I use the term 'locus of effect' to describe aggregate activity centered on an imaginary point (locus) analogous to a center of gravity. A center of gravity may correspond to a single atom at an imaginary centroid (locus) which is a point where the mass of an object could be balanced on a pin head - but it is not caused by an atom at the centroid. This means that a locus of gravitational effect is totally imaginary. It may just happen to be one atom or another but it is not a real (material) thing - a locus of effect is a convenient fiction.

A phenotype describes a biological unit that results from morphology or growth of an organism. I am currently a human male phenotype of a European decent with slow and accumulated modification through genetic and memetic effects. Each bacteria in my gut is a single cell phenotype with many many like neighbors. The locus of effect of all my E. Coli is an imaginary point centered in my intestines. There may be a single bacteria at the locus but the locus of phenotypic effect for my personal E. Coli is an imaginary point at specific instants.

Richard Dawkins points to his The Extended Phenotype as his greatest achievement - even surpassing The Selfish Gene in potential impact. This necessarily means that a locus of phenotypic effect' describes a centroid or locus of many loci from 7,000,000,000 human phenotypes. It is no doubt to the east of the economic center.

Our peers at The Economist report on another locus of effect which they label an economic center of gravity for all human activity in all of the markets in all the nations. Here is my comment on that article:

"A better name for this economic centroid is a ‘locus of economic effect’. Gravity is awesome but physics has already used that name for something else – gravity. There is also a ‘locus of human phenotypes’ which is biomass of humanity balanced on a single point. According to Richard Dawkins there is also a ‘locus of extended phenotypic effect’ which is the mass of all human artifacts centered on a point. Now THAT would have a center of gravity because it is ‘stuff’ – books, the interweb routers and switches and all the ammusement parks and churches…"

My current fave term is "locus of imaginative effect' which subsumes the loci of economic, political, scientific, entertainment - all the memes and all the genes taken together and centered at a single locus. An ensemble of dispositions of the entire race.

And finally... there exists a locus of sobriety which is the mass of all AA phenotypes around the world balanced on a point. It's sober turtle all the way down.