“We do not know enough about how the present will lead into the future. We shall never be able to say, "Ha! My perception, my accounting for that series, will indeed cover its next and future components," or "Next time I meet with these phenomena, I shall be able to predict their total course."” KnowsEnoughAbleCoursesNextPerceptionSeriesNext TimeComponentsAccounting Author:Gregory Bateson
“Numbers are the product of counting. Quantities are the product of measurement. This means that numbers can conceivably be accurate because there is a discontinuity between each integer and the next. Between two and three there is a jump. In the case of quantity, there is no such jump; and because jump is missing in the world of quantity, it is impossible for any quantity to be exact. You can have exactly three tomatoes. You can never have exactly three gallons of water. Always quantity is approximate.” WorldMeanTwoThreeNextWaterNumbersCasesImpossibleMissingProductsQuantityAccurateCountingMeasurementTomatoesGallonsDiscontinuityIntegers Author:Gregory Bateson
“Numbers are the product of counting. Quantities are the product of measurement. This means that numbers can conceivably be accurate because there is a discontinuity between each integer and the next.” MeanNextNumbersProductsQuantityAccurateCountingMeasurementDiscontinuityIntegers Author:Gregory Bateson
“Every move we make in fear of the next war in fact hastens it.” WarFactsMovingNextPeaceAnti WarAntiwar Author:Gregory Bateson
“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.” PeopleHumansValuesCultureNextParentFailingGenerationsSkillsNext GenerationTransmissionReplicate Author:Gregory Bateson
