The Mental Marble Society 

The Mental Marble Society is a loose knit organization of people around the world that believe it is possible describe human nature by drawing an analogy between the human brain and a box of marbles. As ludicrous as this may sound at first, keep in mind, the marble/box theory is an analogy, not a direct discussion of the human psychic.

Analogy:       "An explaining of something by comparing it

                    point for point with something similar"

                    [Webster's New World Dictionary, Third College Edition]

 1. The brain is the single controlling instrument that determines a set of characteristics that fully describe a person's behavior, capabilities, attitudes, overall intelligence and natural skills
2. Each person, being basically identical in makeup, is uniquely defined by the mix of characteristics, and their relative strength that a person is 'given' at birth
2. The sum of each of these characteristics makes up the total of each individual
3. This total individual can be describe by an analogy of a set of marbles and their location within a 'Factor' box, and by describing a human's overall makeup in this manner, new and interesting insight into humanity can be reached

1. The brain can be considered to be constructed of a large box, divided into a series of smaller boxes, with each box defining a particular characteristic of a human
2. At some point prior to birth, God (or mother nature, pick your religion) 'tosses' a handful of marbles into the large box
3. The marbles bounce around and eventually distributed themselves among the smaller boxes
4. Each small box that received a marble will give the person a characteristic that is associated with that box, boxes without marbles will not do not add to the overall definition of a person. For example, if a marble falls into the "math" box, the person will have some level of basic math skills - no marble, no skill

1.   Observation: Different people seem to have different skills, abilities, etc. (know as "mental characteristics")

Marble Explanation: The human brain is made up of single box (referred to as the Major Box), subdivided into smaller boxes (referred to as Characteristic Boxes, or just box/boxes for short). Each Characteristic Box defines a potential mental characteristic that a person may possess. To have a characteristic the box must be activated. Activation occurs when the box is occupied by one or more marbles.
 
 
1. Observation: People with an identical mental characteristic seem to varying levels of effectiveness in applying the characteristic.

Marble Explanation: It is possible that a given characteristic box contains more than one marble. A person that has two marbles in a given characteristics box will have more ability to use that characteristic than someone with only one marble in the same box.
 
 
2. Observation: People that tend to be very good at one thing, are often lacking in other skills. For example, someone could be a very good at a scientific skill, but have no social skills. Potential reason: Multiple marbles fell into a scientific skill box, leaving less marbles to distribute to abilities, and with the luck of the random toss, none fell into the social skills box.

Marble Explanation: Each person, at birth, has tossed at their box, the same number of marbles. If more than one marble falls into a single box, then there are not enough marbles to adequately fill other boxes. For example, great 'thinkers' of the past, such as Einstein in all likelihood had multiple marbles in one or more physics boxes, leaving him short on marbles to fill boxes such as social skills.
 
 
3. Observation: Some traits tend to be hereditary.

Marble Explanation: Boxes are not laid out identical for all people. The toss, although random, tends to favor boxes in the center. The distribution of boxes tends to shift somewhat from parent to child, thus a given center box trait for a parent has a high probability of being a center trait for a child, thus has higher probability of receiving a marble. The amount that boxes shift is family dependent, thus some traits can stay in the center for generations, skipping generations not because the box moved, but only on the luck of the throw.
 
 
4. Observations: Some people seem to act as if they do not and 'average' set of mental characteristics.

Marble Explanation: There are a number of reasons that this might be the case:
Marble explanation 1: Some boxes are marked unused
Marble explanation 2: Some skills are outdated. A marble did fall into the box, but isn't obvious since the skill is no longer used. For example, one box could be marked "good at making buggy whips", but since these skills are no longer used, it looks like a person has a number of marbles in unused' boxes. The opposite is also true, the skill may not be useful for another hundred years. Their real problem is they live in the wrong century.
Marble explanation 3: People that seem to be very dumb could be: too many marbles in unless boxes, or on rare occasions, some people just don't get a full load of marbles. People that seem very smart could be because they got a lot of marbles in a few boxes, or on rare occasions, someone gets more than a standard load of marbles.

Note: The common phrase: "....seems to have lost some of his marbles" applies to this rule.
 
 

5. Observations: Some people seem to be very good at a given complex task

Marble Explanation: Some capabilities are the result of the sum of skills. For example, there is no box called good airline pilot', instead that skill is a combination of capabilities. Thus to be a good pilot, one must be lucky enough to have marbles in all the right boxes.
 
 
6. Observation: Peoples skills, capabilities can change.

Marble Explanation: There are a number of reasons for this:
Marble explanation 1: Traumatic events (both physical and mental) can shake the big box, sometime causing the marbles to relocate, changing a persons skills.
Marble explanation 2: Normal living can cause marbles to shift somewhat even without traumatic events.
 
 
7. Observation: People can change the way they are.

Marble Explanation: People have some ability to move marbles, that is adjust their own behavior. The marbles always want to move back to their original state. The farther the marble has to move the more energy it takes to move it and the more energy it takes to keep it in it's new box.

 Note on last two rules: A shift like this, esp. If not planned and with the marble moving into an undesirable box, such as an unused box is often referred to in the common literature as loosing ones marbles.

 The Society has an effort underway to update it's standard toolset. This is a five year, fully funded effort that will provide a significant improvement in the set of paper based tools currently available. Click [Here] for a graphic of the toolset.

 At this time there are two official collateral efforts underway by Society members:

Preparing an approved history of the Society, from it's roots in mid 1800's England through a review of each of the 14 worldwide chapters. Of special interest to Society members is a section describing how Society terminology such as "loosing one's marbles" have made their way into everyday usage, with special attention of how the terminology has rooted itself differently in different languages/societies around the world.

"Describing Animal Behavior by Use of the Mental Marble Society's Characteristics Model." This is a very exciting Ph.D. thesis extension to the Society's work, which if successful could open entire new fields of study.