Welcome to the MHB Podcast. This is Michael Baun. And welcome to my tenth episode. Tonight we are going to discuss the Pareto distribution and how to deal with it in the context of a society. I find this idea particularly fascinating because it’s one of those concepts that is pointed out in the Bible long before it is discovered by man. Jesus makes such a clear reference to the Pareto distribution in the Gospel of Matthew that it has become well known as the Matthew effect. Furthermore, the Pareto distribution even applies in places where human beings have never been. There appears to be only one way to counter or reverse the Pareto distribution – and the Bible tells us what it is. So let’s break this down together.
What is the Pareto distribution? The Pareto distribution is an idea that in any given domain 80% of the resource potential will be controlled by 20% of the participants. It is named after the Italian civil engineer, economist, and sociologist Vilfredo Pareto. So if you have 10 people working in a group – 80% of the creative power will collect around just 2 of the people across time. This is why in capitalistic, laissez-faire societies the resources tend to collect at the top 10-20% – forming an elite. This is observable across all of human history where markets have been set free to operate in optimal conditions.
The Pareto distribution presents a problem because, across time, the resources will continue to collect at the top and create an ever-increasing divide between the upper 10-20% and the lower 80-90%. Historically, this divide would be allowed to grow until the lower 80% unites against the upper 20% and strips them of their resources. That is a sub-optimal solution, however, because the lower 80% will take those resources and set up markets which will then follow the Pareto distribution right back into the same problem.
If that doesn’t seem troubling enough, the Pareto distribution is not something that is caused by human beings. We can observe it happening in trees in the Amazon rain forest. The taller trees have access to more sunlight and thus grow even taller. We see it happening in stars. The larger stars have a stronger gravitational pull and thus gain even more mass. The Pareto distribution appears to be a law that is built into the universe.
Here’s where things get really interesting: Jesus Christ tells us about the Pareto distribution more than 1800 years before Vilfredo Pareto is born. Christ says this: For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. That’s from the Gospel of Matthew chapter 25 verse 29.
In order to properly understand this verse we should think about it in its context – it comes from Christ’s Parable of the Talents, which reads this:
For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master’s money. Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here, I have made five talents more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me two talents; here, I have made two talents more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here, you have what is yours.’ But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
So when I first read through that parable I thought: that sounds really harsh. Then I took a look at the world. The world is also really harsh in its observance of the Pareto distribution. The universe doesn’t care how you feel about it – it still happens. And so it makes sense that the most loving thing God could do is make us aware of this law and tell us how to protect against it. That’s right – there’s actually a way human beings can act to reverse the Pareto distribution.
Before we talk about how to solve the issue of the Pareto distribution, I want to point out one more law that human beings have the capacity to reverse: entropy. Entropy is the second law of thermodynamics and it basically says that the universe is getting colder and everything in it suffers from a pervasive law of decay. The entire universe is going from order to disorder. On that level it is unstoppable. But human beings – on a micro level – can actually reverse entropy. Picture the roof on your house. Day after day and night after night it shields you from the weather. The cost of doing this is that over time it begins to deteriorate and decay. Then one morning a contractor comes to your house, climbs up to the roof and rebuilds it. If left alone the roof would continue to decay until it was gone. But because of the human who went up the roof that did not happen.
Both the Pareto distribution and the law of entropy are irreversible and absolute when left alone. But in neither case does it have to play out that way. Christ himself tells us how to reverse the Pareto distribution in the Parable of the Talents. The major tenets of the Christian worldview are twofold: Christ is God and He sacrificed himself for the sin of humanity so that they may be saved into heaven for eternity. Trusting that Christ He is who He says He is is the only requirement to reaching heaven. There is no earning your way to heaven through good works. Christ paid for salvation on your behalf – so salvation is entirely separate from this next major tenet, which is called discipleship. Once you trust Christ, He gives you instruction to advance the Kingdom of Heaven while you are alive on Earth. Here’s what’s super cool: advancing the Kingdom of Heaven looks an awful lot like reversing the Pareto distribution and reversing entropy.
My mind was blown when I saw this. But let’s consider the Pareto distribution. Every single individual has one thing that they are really good at – or a talent. It doesn’t have to be a talent that will make them famous or that is extraordinary in any way. Remember: the servant who only received two talents was only expected to produce two – not twenty. Which, interestingly enough, is a concept set down by Christ in the Gospel of Luke chapter 12 verse 48: But someone who does not know, and then does something wrong, will be punished only lightly. When someone has been given much, much will be required in return; and when someone has been entrusted with much, even more will be required.
And so you take whatever it is you’re good at and you use that gift to make the world and the people around you better. That’s it. That’s all it takes to reverse the Pareto distribution and often times entropy. Why does it work like that? Because when you choose to use your talent – you also choose to take the sacrifice upon yourself to absorb the energy-cost of doing so. If you’re a contractor, you can rebuild someone’s roof for free financially – but never without costing someone energy. So you make the choice to sacrifice and absorb the cost. Similar to how Christ sacrificed and absorbed the cost. The consequence in both instances is that you make the future better for someone else. In your case, your neighbor. In God’s case, all of creation.
A word of caution: status-quo is an illusion. If you never do anything, you will not stay in the same place – but you will actually fall backwards. There’s an interesting conversation to be had about sacrifice and bargaining with the future which I will talk about in a future episode – but for right now you should know that doing nothing is actually a negative and is not neutral. Then, more obviously, you can also choose to sacrifice and absorb the energy cost to produce destruction for those around you. This is the hallmark of an evil person.
So the next time you hear on the news how the wealthy control everything and everyone else is impoverished, just know that is the Pareto distribution at work – and you can contribute to stop it. Tearing down the whole system is not the right answer. Trying to artificially circumvent the law by way of communism is not the answer. The answer is you sacrificing yourself and using your own energy to improve the lives of others in whatever way is unique to your talent.
Someone might say: but I’m just one person! How much of a difference could I make? The answer is, you can make the difference that just one person would be expected to make. Seriously, you don’t have to reverse the whole thing on your own and you’re not expected to. Just do your best according to your own ability. Don’t make the mistake of thinking it’s a sprint. You’re walking with God and you must make time to rest. Even God rested from His creative work on the seventh creation day.
The idea of one individual using his or her specific talent brings me to another parallel we’ve seen historically. Adam Smith is considered by many to be the father of economics. One of the theories he is famous for is the idea that if everyone in the group is doing what is best for himself, that will create the best result for the group as a whole. Smith understood the power of an individual contribution. Imagine if you took Smith’s idea and turned it outwards. One person may be limited in the number of people he or she can help. But imagine if everyone was doing this. What would the world look like if everyone was using his or her talent to make the world and the people around them better?
You can rest assured, there is a huge ripple effect to everything you do. This is called the Butterfly Effect. That’s a topic for another episode but it’s something to consider. If you use your talent to advance the Kingdom of God – i.e. reverse the Pareto distribution and reverse entropy, your impact may travel so far out that you don’t get to see it. But God sees it. So you might think: if salvation is paid for by God and all I need to do to go to heaven is trust in Christ, why bother with good works? The answer is this: discovering your gift and using it to make the world and the people around you better is the secret to a life that is filled with meaning and purpose. Furthermore, behaving this way actually makes your own life easier. Most people love a person who loves them.
Jesus says in Matthew 10:39: If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give up your life for me, you will find it.
If you find this content valuable, feel free to share it and to use it in your own studies. If you’d like to support this podcast, you can do so at http://www.patreon.com/michaelhbaun. There is a link in the description. Your generosity goes a long way to promoting the growth of this enterprise and the cause of free speech. Thank you all for joining me this evening, and I will see you in the next episode.
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