Back to Topics │ Potential │ CheatSheetHub │ Start: Relativity & Reaction
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The original title for the section now called Potential was Relativity and Impact on the Universe. The intention was to give the reader a sense of scale—how small actions can still carry weight across time and context. Eventually, it became clear that this section was really about understanding and realising individual potential. That recognition led naturally to the question: What does “potential” actually mean?
Being born in the UK and now a citizen of Germany, it made sense to examine how the concept appears in both linguistic systems. Because both countries have reputable reference dictionaries, and because I can consult them from my chair, the exercise became an exploration of how meaning shifts across the Social Knowledge Base (SKB). In other words: how the same word, asked of different systems, returns different flavours of the same underlying idea.
Observation
In the UK, the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) is widely recognised as a reputable reference. In Germany, Duden functions as a practical standardising institution, though even it adapts as the language evolves. For this experiment, I sampled three online sources:
- OED (English)
- ChatGPT (multinational, slightly US-leaning)
- Duden + Google Translate (German)
My initial prompt for each was simply: “potential.”
Oxford English Dictionary (Short Form)
“Possible as opposed to actual, having or showing…”
A subscription is required for the full entry. As a working assumption, I accepted the short form as sufficient and moved on.
ChatGPT Definition (English)
Potential (noun)
• Latent ability or capacity that may be developed or realised in the future.
• Something existing in possibility but not yet in action.
Potential (adjective)
• Having the capacity to become or develop into something in the future.
Scientific
• Potential energy: stored energy due to position or configuration.
• Electric potential: energy per unit charge at a point in an electric field.
Mathematical
• A scalar function that gives rise to a field (e.g., gravitational potential).
Philosophical (Aristotle)
• Potentiality (dynamis): capacity for change.
• Actuality (energeia): fulfilment of that capacity.
→ Every entity holds both.
Psychological
• Untapped ability within a person or system that could be cultivated.
ChatGPT provides a broad, multidisciplinary overview—useful for this analysis.
German Definition: Duden + Google Translate
I first used Google Translate to obtain the German word for “potential”: Potenzial.
I then requested Duden’s definition and translated it back to English.
“Potenzial” (noun)
• The totality of existing, available means, possibilities, abilities, energies.
• Examples:
– “the economic, military potential of a country”
– “the energy potential is exhausted”
• Physics: a quantity describing a field (e.g., potential of a force field).
“potenziell / potenzial” (adjective)
• Possible given the circumstances; existing as a possibility.
• Philosophy: expressing a possible occurrence.
• Linguistics: used in formulations such as the “potential conditional clause.”
The meaning is extremely close to the English usage but expressed through German grammatical traditions.
Consequences: What the Definitions Tell Us
Across all three sources—OED, ChatGPT, Duden/Google—certain aspects recur:
| Aspect | OED | ChatGPT | Duden/Google |
| Combination with possibility | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Latent ability | – | ✔ | ✔ |
| Future development / becoming | – | ✔ | ✔ |
| Scientific usage (fields, energy) | – | ✔ | ✔ |
| Linguistic usage | – | – | ✔ |
Key pattern
All sources point to the same underlying meaning, expressed through different linguistic traditions.
This is the SKB in action:
A single concept wearing different masks—shaped by context, history, and translation.
A subtle complication
Potential is often confused with probability. This matters:
- Potential = existence of a capacity
- Realisation = when that capacity becomes actual (potentia in actu)
- Probability = likelihood of that realisation occurring
The OED’s “possible as opposed to actual” hints at this distinction but does not explain it.
This is important later when discussing human potential and consequence assessment.
Evaluation: What This Exercise Shows
Retrieving a definition from three sources reveals:
1. Meanings vary with location and context — the SKB’s many faces.
This exactly mirrors the point made in Nerd Cheat Sheet: Poor Decisions by Society.
2. Differences are in tone and emphasis, not substance.
Nothing contradicts anything else; all align around the same conceptual core.
3. The flavour of the definition depends on the source.
Duden leans formal and structured.
ChatGPT leans broad and multidisciplinary.
OED leans historical and lexical.
This demonstrates a crucial truth for the R&R project:
We do not see the world directly — we see it through the systems we ask.
(The SKB decides which face it shows us.)
Cost (A practical aside)
Providing dictionary services is not free.
- OED uses a subscription model—slick, polished, but expensive for occasional use.
- Duden uses an ad-supported model—functional, practical, engineer-friendly.
Both began historically as standardising institutions, yet their modern business models reflect different SKB ecosystems.
“How the information is paid for” is itself information.
Action
For the purposes of writing Potential in R&R, consulting multiple sources was worthwhile.
For everyday life, deep analysis isn’t needed for everything—but when:
- the stakes are high, or
- the concept shapes many downstream consequences
…then cross-checking sources is one of the simplest ways to improve clarity.
A practical method:
- Gather multiple sources.
- Arrange facts in comparable form (tables help).
- Look for overlap before judging differences.
- Assess the risk of acting on incorrect information.
- Choose the most reasonable path—not the perfect one.
This mirrors the core R&R principles: Observation → Consequence → Action.
📖 Series Roadmap
- Forward: A Little Background
- Introduction: Action, Reaction, and the Human Paradox (16.09.2025)
- Looking Back in Time: The Development of the Human Brain (23.09.2025)
- Abstract Senses: Enhancing the way we see the world outside (30.09.2025)
- Bias as a Concept & Climbing the Stairs: Pattern Recognition & Everyday Tasks (07.10.2025)
- Abstract Feelings and Abstract Senses (14.10.2025)
- Motivation (04.11.2025)
- The Social Knowledge Base (11.11.2025)
- Potential (18.11.2025)
- The Subliminal Way We Go Through Life (26.11.2025)
- Taking Responsibility (02.12.2025)
- Fishing for Complements (22.12.2025)
- Peter and Fermi (22.12.2025)
🔗 R&R Navigation
Back to Topics │ Potential │ CheatSheetHub │ Start: Relativity & Reaction
End Notes: n/a
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