>
> [High twaddle indeed. Classical statistical mechanics have zip, zilch, nada
> to do with income distribution. Wealth inquisition in this benighted,
> anything-goes capitalist society is governed entirely by one simple
> principle: "You have arms, you take."]
>
>
Yes Carl, but what if the "You have arms, you take." also results in a wealth distribution in society that correlates with the statistical model of the Gibbs distribution, a model which was meant to apply to an ideal gas in equilibrium?
The author is not saying that this kind of wealth distribution necessarily has anything to do with capitalist society or market society, though his current application is limited to variants of what we call "market" societies. It is possible that the distribution of power between rulers and ruled could result in the same correlation. That is why I defined my questions in the way I did... I was trying to get beyond the simple knee jerk reaction, that this is just "ideological justification" for what can't be justified.
Jerry