On Theocracies

Although many archaeologists and anthropologists have used the concept of theocracy in discussing the structure and evolution of early complex societies there has been little systematic thought or consensus about its implication. The concept of theocracy is evaluated in the context of present thought on the evolution of complex societes. It is suggested that theocratic organization was well-suited and even necessary for the emergence of state-type institutions, and that there is no evolutionary dichotomy between "theocratic" states and, later, more "secular" ones . [theocracy, structure and evolution of complex societies, state formation]     

On compartmentalization

The notion of a compartment is discussed in terms of the Markovian process. From the stochastic matrix (the elements of which are state transition probabilities between different states of a particle of a chemical element), one may find a (generally) nonstochastic matrix; the elements of this second matrix are probabilities that, starting from some initial state, the particle will reach another seleced state (W. Feller, 1962,An Introduction to Probability Theory). Forming equivalence classes of states it can be shown that the equivalence classes based on an equivalence relation, which holds for the elements of the above-mentioned nonstochastic matrix, are essential for the notion of a compartment. From this procedure it is also obvious that a rigorous definition of a physically realizable compartment is impossible. Some conclusions on the practical use of compartmental analysis are drawn.