It has been a device to make indivisible objects divisible, or incommensurate objects homogeneous. Their "expected values" are divisible by lottery when the objects themselves are not. We flip coins to see who gets the object, and play "double or nothing" when we cannot make change. We can divide the obligation of citizenship equally by selecting draftees through a lottery, when we want a fraction of the eligibles for a long period of service rather than all of them for a short one.

XREF: Connects to broader work on lotteries and fairness in allocation — likely from a book on lottery logic (possibly by Aaron Brown or similar). Dovetails with any discussion of chance as an equalizing mechanism.

Thomas C. Schelling, The Strategy of Conflict, loc. 387