Biology Quote by Gregory Bateson

“No organism can afford to be conscious of matters with which it could deal at unconscious levels.”

Gregory Bateson

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Biology Conscious Deals Generalities Levels Matter Organisms Unconscious

More by Gregory Bateson

Number is different from quantity.

Gregory Bateson

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We do not know enough about how the present will lead into the future. We shall never be able to say, "Ha! My perception,…

Gregory Bateson

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Synaptic summation is the technical term used in neurophysiology for those instances in which some neuron C is fired only by a combination of…

Gregory Bateson

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Somebody was saying to Picasso that he ought to make pictures of things the way they are-objective pictures. He mumbled that he wasn't quite sure what that would be. The person who was bullying him produced a photograph of his wife from his wallet and said, "There, you see, that is a picture of how she really is." Picasso looked…

Gregory Bateson

Still more astonishing is that world of rigorous fantasy which we call mathematics.

Gregory Bateson

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What is true is that the idea of power corrupts. Power corrupts most rapidly those who believe in it, and it is they who will want it most. Obviously, our democratic system tends to give power to those who hunger for it and gives every opportunity to those who don't want power to avoid getting it. Not a very satisfactory…

Gregory Bateson

“A little hypocrisy and a little compromise oils the wheels of social life”

Gregory Bateson

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Science, like art, religion, commerce, warfare, and even sleep, is based on presuppositions. It differs, however, from most other branches of human activity in…

Gregory Bateson

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Desired substance, things, patterns, or sequences of experience that are in some sense "good" for the organism - items of diet, conditions of life, temperature, entertainment, sex, and so forth - are never such that more of the something is always better than less of the something. Rather, for all objects and experiences, there is a quantity that has optimum…

Gregory Bateson

No organism can afford to be conscious of matters with which it could deal at unconscious levels. Broadly, we can afford to sink those sorts of knowledge which continue to be true regardless of changes in the environment, but we must maintain in an accessible place all those controls of behavior which must be modified for every instance. The economics…

Gregory Bateson

Wisdom is the intelligence of the system as a whole.

Gregory Bateson

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Still more astonishing is that world of rigorous fantasy we call mathematics.

Gregory Bateson

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Natural history is not taught in seminary. This is curious, as most people in pastoral ministry are about 567 times more likely to be asked about cosmology or sub-nuclear physics or human biology or evolution than they are to be asked about irregular Greek verbs or the danger of the patripassionist heresy. If we monotheists are going to go around…

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