--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Both ignorance and the old metaphysics…" description: "\"“Both ignorance and the old metaphysics tend to produce these undesirable nervous effects of reversed order and so non-survival evaluation. If we use t..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2dd/alfred-korzybski-8234_ignorance_both-ignorance-and-the-old-metaphysics-t_3150353.jpg" --- # Both ignorance and the old metaphysics tend to produce… ![“Both ignorance and the old metaphysics tend to produce these undesirable nervous effects of reversed order and so non-survival evaluation. If we use the nervous ystem in a way which is against its survival structure, we must expect non-survival. Human history is short, but already we have…” quote by Alfred Korzybski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2dd/alfred-korzybski-8234_ignorance_both-ignorance-and-the-old-metaphysics-t_3150353.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2dd/alfred-korzybski-8234_ignorance_both-ignorance-and-the-old-metaphysics-t_3150353.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2dd/alfred-korzybski-8234_ignorance_both-ignorance-and-the-old-metaphysics-t_3150353.jpg) > ““Both ignorance and the old metaphysics tend to produce these undesirable nervous effects of reversed order and so non-survival evaluation. If we use the nervous ystem in a way which is against its survival structure, we must expect non-survival. Human history is short, but already we have astonishing records of extinction.”” [Alfred Korzybski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-korzybski/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Using the nervous system contrary to its survival design leads to harmful, non‑survival outcomes, as seen in history’s extinctions. **In simple terms:** Misusing our biology causes failure and extinction. Key Takeaway Align actions with natural survival structures. Themes survival biology extinction history psychology Mood cautious reflective Type philosophical warning When to use this quote - health decisions - environmental policy - technology design - education curricula Key Concepts Systems theory feedback loops evolutionary biology Questions to Reflect On - How can we redesign technology to support, not hinder, our survival instincts? - What historical examples show misaligned systems causing collapse? A Different Perspective Human systems can adapt, but only if changes respect underlying biological constraints. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Ignorance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ignorance/) [Metaphysics](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/metaphysics/) [Philosophy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/philosophy/) [Survival](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/survival/) ## Related quotes > [“The modern ignorance is in people's assumption that they can outsmart their own nature. It is in the arrogance that will believe nothing that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/the-modern-ignorance-is-in-people-s-assumption-that-they-can-outsmart/) [Wendell Berry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-berry/) > [“...no thought, if it be non-mathematical in spirit, can be trusted, and, although mathematicians sometimes make mistakes, the spirit of mathematics is always right…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-korzybski/no-thought-if-it-be-non-mathematical-in-spirit-can-be-trusted-and/) [Alfred Korzybski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-korzybski/) > [“Philosophy in its old form could exist only in the absence of engineering, but with engineering in existence and daily more active and far…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-korzybski/philosophy-in-its-old-form-could-exist-only-in-the-absence-of/) [Alfred Korzybski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-korzybski/) > [“Indeed neither life nor science bothers about "essences"-they leave "essences" to metaphysics, which is neither life nor science.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-korzybski/indeed-neither-life-nor-science-bothers-about-essences-they-leave/) [Alfred Korzybski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-korzybski/) > [“Edward had used work and accomplishments throughout his life to keep the misery at bay. He’d endured so much heartache in the first eighteen…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-decker/edward-had-used-work-and-accomplishments-throughout-his-life-to-keep/) [Steven Decker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-decker/) > [Whenever I see an erring man, I say to myself I have also erred; when I see a lustful man I say to myself,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/whenever-i-see-an-erring-man-i-say-to-myself-i-have-also-erred-when-i/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [I have but shadowed forth my intense longing to lose myself in the Eternal and become merely a lump of clay in the Potter's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/i-have-but-shadowed-forth-my-intense-longing-to-lose-myself-in-the/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“The conscious events that we are aware of are physical events in their own right, just as much as the brain events observed in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-hirstein/the-conscious-events-that-we-are-aware-of-are-physical-events-in/) William Hirstein > [And indeed nothing but the most determined scepticism, along with a great degree of indolence, can justify this aversion to metaphysics. For if truth…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-hume/and-indeed-nothing-but-the-most-determined-scepticism-along-with-a/) [David Hume](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-hume/) > [“Easter blessings All life’s sacrifices like autumn leaves awaken our senses and power to love and be whole Our Mother Earth, Our Father Sky…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ramon-ravenswood/easter-blessings-all-life-s-sacrifices-like-autumn-leaves-awaken-our/) [Ramon Ravenswood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ramon-ravenswood/) > [The more science I studied, the more I saw that physics becomes metaphysics and numbers become imaginary numbers. The farther you go into science,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dan-brown/the-more-science-i-studied-the-more-i-saw-that-physics-becomes/) [Dan Brown](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dan-brown/) > [“The ultimate aim of reality is to become science fiction!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eli-of-kittim/the-ultimate-aim-of-reality-is-to-become-science-fiction/) [Eli Of Kittim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eli-of-kittim/) > [Don't live by my words, don't die by them, chew them slowly digest them, and smile if they give nourishment to your soul.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanley-victor-paskavich/don-t-live-by-my-words-don-t-die-by-them-chew-them-slowly-digest-them/) [Stanley Victor Paskavich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanley-victor-paskavich/) > [“Sentinels of trees breathe life into bodies of earthly flesh As their mighty arms reach to the stars we join in their quest for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ramon-ravenswood/sentinels-of-trees-breathe-life-into-bodies-of-earthly-flesh-as-their/) [Ramon Ravenswood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ramon-ravenswood/) > [“Heidegger connects the linchpin of the Kantian Paradigm—A5 Active Knower, that is, the idea that the subject organizes experience—to what he considers to be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lee-braver/heidegger-connects-the-linchpin-of-the-kantian-paradigm-a5-active/) [Lee Braver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lee-braver/) ## More by Alfred Korzybski > [The objective level is not words, and cannot be reached by words alone. We must point our finger and be silent, or we will…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-korzybski/the-objective-level-is-not-words-and-cannot-be-reached-by-words-alone/) [Alfred Korzybski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-korzybski/) > [God may forgive your sins, but your nervous system won't.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-korzybski/god-may-forgive-your-sins-but-your-nervous-system-won-t/) [Alfred Korzybski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-korzybski/) > [“We humans, through old habits, and because of the inherent structure of human knowledge have a tendency to make static, definite, and, in a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-korzybski/we-humans-through-old-habits-and-because-of-the-inherent-structure-of/) [Alfred Korzybski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-korzybski/) > [Whatever you say it is, it isn't.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-korzybski/whatever-you-say-it-is-it-isn-t/) [Alfred Korzybski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-korzybski/) > [Let us repeat the two crucial negative premises as established firmly by all human experience: (1) Words are not the things we are speaking…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-korzybski/let-us-repeat-the-two-crucial-negative-premises-as-established-firmly/) [Alfred Korzybski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-korzybski/) > [To regard human beings as tools - as instruments - for the use of other human beings is not only unscientific but it is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-korzybski/to-regard-human-beings-as-tools-as-instruments-for-the-use-of-other/) [Alfred Korzybski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-korzybski/) > [I am the same kind of moron as the rest of you, it's the method that does the work, for me as well as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-korzybski/i-am-the-same-kind-of-moron-as-the-rest-of-you-it-s-the-method-that/) [Alfred Korzybski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-korzybski/) > [Who rules our symbols, rules us.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-korzybski/who-rules-our-symbols-rules-us/) [Alfred Korzybski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-korzybski/) > [Whatever you may say something is, it is not!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-korzybski/whatever-you-may-say-something-is-it-is-not/) [Alfred Korzybski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-korzybski/) > [Second order effects, such as belief in belief, makes fanaticism.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-korzybski/second-order-effects-such-as-belief-in-belief-makes-fanaticism/) [Alfred Korzybski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-korzybski/) > [“Definitions create conditions.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-korzybski/definitions-create-conditions/) [Alfred Korzybski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-korzybski/) > [Mathematics and logic have been proved to be one; a fact from which it seems to follow that mathematics may successfully deal with non-quantitative…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-korzybski/mathematics-and-logic-have-been-proved-to-be-one-a-fact-from-which-it/) [Alfred Korzybski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-korzybski/) > [There are two ways to slice easily thorugh life; to believe everything or to doubt everything. Both ways save us from thinking.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-korzybski/there-are-two-ways-to-slice-easily-thorugh-life-to-believe-everything/) [Alfred Korzybski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-korzybski/) > [“Philosophy, as defined by Fichte, is the "science of sciences." Its aim was to solve the problems of the world. In the past, when…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-korzybski/philosophy-as-defined-by-fichte-is-the-science-of-sciences-its-aim/) [Alfred Korzybski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-korzybski/) > [“There are two ways to slide easily through life: Namely, to believe everything, or to doubt everything; both ways save us from thinking. The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-korzybski/there-are-two-ways-to-slide-easily-through-life-namely-to-believe/) [Alfred Korzybski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-korzybski/) [Explore all 82 Alfred Korzybski quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-korzybski/) ## More Ignorance quotes > [My folks tried to make a preacher of me and missed by a narrow margin… I would have made a good one if I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-a-heinlein/my-folks-tried-to-make-a-preacher-of-me-and-missed-by-a-narrow-margin/) [Robert A. Heinlein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-a-heinlein/) > [If you had made the acquiring of ignorance the study of your life, you could not have graduated with higher honor than you could…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/if-you-had-made-the-acquiring-of-ignorance-the-study-of-your-life-you/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [One of the deepest and strangest of all human moods is the mood which will suddenly strike us perhaps in a garden at night,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/one-of-the-deepest-and-strangest-of-all-human-moods-is-the-mood-which/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Ignorance is not bliss — it is oblivion. Determined ignorance is the hastiest kind of oblivion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-wylie/ignorance-is-not-bliss-it-is-oblivion-determined-ignorance-is-the/) [Philip Wylie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-wylie/) > [... informed ignorance provides the natural state of mind for research scientists at the ever-shifting frontiers of knowledge. People who believe themselves ignorant of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-degrasse-tyson/informed-ignorance-provides-the-natural-state-of-mind-for-research/) [Neil deGrasse Tyson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-degrasse-tyson/) > [“If knowledge does not liberate the self from the self, then ignorance is better than such knowledge.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hakim-sanai/if-knowledge-does-not-liberate-the-self-from-the-self-then-ignorance/) [Hakim Sanai](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hakim-sanai/) > [You are senile old fool, and because of your impudence, I cannot fathom how you still live!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/you-are-senile-old-fool-and-because-of-your-impudence-i-cannot-fathom/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Surely, God could have caused birds to fly with their bones made of solid gold, with their veins full of quicksilver, with their flesh…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/galileo-galilei/surely-god-could-have-caused-birds-to-fly-with-their-bones-made-of/) [Galileo Galilei](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/galileo-galilei/) > [“Knowledge will forever govern ignorance, and a people who mean to be their own governors, must arm themselves with the power knowledge gives. A…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-madison/knowledge-will-forever-govern-ignorance-and-a-people-who-mean-to-be/) [James Madison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-madison/) > [“Don’t turn your face away. Once you’ve seen, you can no longer act like you don’t know. Open your eyes to the truth. It’s…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vashti-quiroz-vega/don-t-turn-your-face-away-once-you-ve-seen-you-can-no-longer-act-like/) Vashti Quiroz-Vega > [Nothing is worse than active ignorance.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/nothing-is-worse-than-active-ignorance/) [Johann Wolfgang von Goethe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/) > [The only victories which leave no regret are those which are gained over ignorance.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/napoleon-bonaparte/the-only-victories-which-leave-no-regret-are-those-which-are-gained/) [Napoleon Bonaparte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/napoleon-bonaparte/) > [“Those who embrace prejudice doom themselves to live in ignorance.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-p-lintz-sr/those-who-embrace-prejudice-doom-themselves-to-live-in-ignorance/) John P Lintz Sr > [“You are a lawmaker in your own right.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sunday-adelaja/you-are-a-lawmaker-in-your-own-right/) [Sunday Adelaja](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sunday-adelaja/) > [Sanity can take one of only two forms: that of ignorance, or denial.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/derek-r-audette/sanity-can-take-one-of-only-two-forms-that-of-ignorance-or-denial/) [Derek R. Audette](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/derek-r-audette/) [Browse all 5,657 Ignorance quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ignorance/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Both ignorance and the old metaphysics tend to produce these undesirable nervous effects of reversed order and so non-survival evaluation. If we use the nervous ystem in a way which is against its survival structure, we must expect non-survival. Human history is short, but already we have astonishing records of extinction.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Alfred Korzybski" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-korzybski/both-ignorance-and-the-old-metaphysics-tend-to-produce-these/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Ignorance" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-korzybski/both-ignorance-and-the-old-metaphysics-tend-to-produce-these/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2dd/alfred-korzybski-8234_ignorance_both-ignorance-and-the-old-metaphysics-t_3150353.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2dd/alfred-korzybski-8234_ignorance_both-ignorance-and-the-old-metaphysics-t_3150353.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2dd/alfred-korzybski-8234_ignorance_both-ignorance-and-the-old-metaphysics-t_3150353.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Both ignorance and the old metaphysics tend to produce these undesirable nervous effects of reversed order…” — Alfred Korzybski", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Alfred Korzybski", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-korzybski/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“Both ignorance and the old metaphysics...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-korzybski/both-ignorance-and-the-old-metaphysics-tend-to-produce-these/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-korzybski/both-ignorance-and-the-old-metaphysics-tend-to-produce-these/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```