In the transmission of human culture, people always attempt to replicate, to pass on to the next generation the skills and values of the parents, but the attempt always fails because cultural transmission is geared to learning, not DNA. Gregory Bateson attemptculturalculture share on social
Official education was telling people almost nothing of the nature of all those things on the seashores, and in the redwood forests, in the deserts and in the plains. Gregory Bateson deserteducationforest Change image and share on social
It is to the Riddle of the Sphinx that I have devoted fifty years of professional life as an anthropologist. Gregory Bateson anthropologistdevotefifty Change image and share on social
It is impossible, in principle, to explain any pattern by invoking a single quantity. Gregory Bateson explainimpossibleinvoke Change image and share on social
It is, I claim, nonsense to say that it does not matter which individual man acted as the nucleus for the change. It is precisely this that makes history unpredictable into the future. Gregory Bateson actchangeclaim Change image and share on social
If we pursue this matter further, we shall be told that the stable object is unchanging under the impact or stress of some particular external or internal variable or, perhaps, that it resists the passage of time. Gregory Bateson externalimpactinternal share on social
A major difficulty is that the answer to the Riddle of the Sphinx is partly a product of the answers that we already have given to the riddle in its various forms. Gregory Bateson answerdifficultyform Change image and share on social
We do not know enough about how the present will lead into the future. Gregory Bateson futureleadpresent Change image and share on social
It is of first-class importance that our answer to the Riddle of the Sphinx should be in step with how we conduct our civilisation, and this should in turn be in step with the actual workings of living systems. Gregory Bateson actualanswercivilisation share on social