3.15 Resource, potential

When discussing these issues, we start, as usual, with an analysis of several definitions from various sources. And so: natural resources are organic (plants, animals) and inorganic (atmosphere, water, minerals), used by man to produce or consume [PWN online encyclopedia, 2007]. Natural resources are the elements of nature which are relevant to the environment and human economy [Wikipedia pol., 2008]. Personal resource - whatever, as long as it is used by the body to meet its immediate needs or to achieve its objectives [Wikipedia pol., The state 2008].

Note how the encyclopaedists explain this concept. Some generalize it and others go into great detail. They use such words as "creations", "goods", "elements of nature," and finally, "whatever". But in each of the cited definitions it speaks of "the possibility of using". It is this possibility of being used which is a basic feature of the concept of a resource. Most definitions suggest that a resource is something external. However, the physics of life rejects this proposal, resources can be internal as well. We see beautiful people, and this beauty is their resource which they use for profit. In many cultures, beauty can lead to great wealth without hard work or special intelligence. Other examples of resources are: living matter (plants, animals, bacteria, viruses), inanimate matter (air, water, minerals), energy (water, solar, electric), physical phenomena (radioactivity), information (from external sources), knowledge (ie inside information), the ability to process (skill, talent), the state of the external conditions (weather, war, society), internal state of the object (physical and mental health), and even time.

The resource for a rabbit is grass, its droppings are a resource for dung beetles and for the grass to use as a fertilizer. The rabbit itself is a resource for a predator. People can benefit even with emotion, especially strong ones, such as love or hate: The French Jacobins first realized the political potential of class hatred. [20, p. 282]

In the physics of life, a resource is anything that can be used by an object.

Anything that can be used, but not necessarily will be used. As we have just implied, the possibility of being used is an immanent feature of a resource. However, for it to be used, there must be appropriate circumstances. The concept of a resource is closely related to the concept of potential. Encyclopedias define this as the ability to do something, the ability to use or produce, or generally possibilities of performing a certain action. These definitions need to change, to take into account the relationship between resource and potential. The physics of life definition is: the potential is a measure of how the resource can be used. Note: potential is a measure of resource. In physicists opinion, the only potential of dammed water is its potential energy caused by gravity, which can be turned into electricity. However, in the physics of life, the concept of potential is much wider. It covers all the possible ways to use the dammed water. For example, it can cool something(cooling capacity), heat something (heating capacity), allow swimming (potentials of relaxation, exercise, rehabilitation, sport), perform mechanical work (hydro-electric dams), irrigate fields (agricultural potential) or simply drink it (hydration potential).

The physical property which connects the different fields of physics is energy. It describes the ability of a material object to perform a specific work. This definition of energy is very similar to the definition of a resource. Note that the concept of resource extends the concept of physical energy.

A German general in World War II directly compared two different resources: Four weeks of time means 2 million tonnes of ore. Of course he simplified this, because he did not include labor machinery and distribution costs. However, it shows the possibility to transform one resource to another. It is clear that heated stone will not leap, and the general, smoking cigars for four weeks, will not create a mound of two million tonnes of ore. To transform resources knowledge is required, as well as appropriate technical actions, which also constitute resources.

It turns out that ignorance can also be a resource. Everyone agrees that knowledge is an important resource, but ignorance can have greater potential because of its commonness. When people have no idea about something [...] they accept all the information and firmly believe in it because they only have one source of information. This makes that people stuffed with partial knowledge and the facts created by the media become a tool in the hands of those who provide them. [33, p. IV].