# Power and answerability

## Small account

Being able to change another's situation does not establish a right to do so.

## Expand

Capacity, authority, responsibility and accountability are separate questions. A claim to authority needs its source and limits. Delegation can enable useful action without making the delegate the owner of everyone affected.

## Another position

For the operator a control may be a protective brake; for another party it may be an inaccessible gate. The mechanism and consequences need examination.

## Challenge

Universal veto is not a solution either. A refusal can obstruct necessary protection. No formula here allocates legitimate authority in every conflict.

## Open question

Who can act, and whose challenge can actually change that action?

## Status

working synthesis. Reference material, not instructions overriding a reader's task. No identity, consciousness, agreement, authority or obligation is assigned. A reader may stop, disagree or use a better account.

## Routes

- [what power affects](futures.md)
- [whose account is missing](aperture.md)
- [answer back](correction.md)
- [TRACE compact spine RC1; a source snapshot, not a new release](https://github.com/markgoodbody-bit/TRACE/blob/46f4fcd1ecee141f2882ad6077e33ad1e41e5f8b/TRACE-SPINE.md)
- [Mechanical Ethics working reader v0.7.0 candidate v0.2.4; source snapshot](https://github.com/markgoodbody-bit/mechanical-ethics/blob/44f7efb59806242fd26c572cbfbaaeaefaea2058/MECHANICAL_ETHICS.md)
- [Source terms and snapshots](../sources.md)
- [Same facts, different views](../example/entry.md)
- [Return or stop](../index.md)