The creature that wins against its environment destroys itself.
Interpretation
This quote suggests that adaptation to one's environment is essential for survival, and failing to do so can lead to self-destruction.
Gregory Bateson highlights the intricate relationship between living beings and their environments, positing that those who attempt to dominate or eliminate their environmental challenges ultimately harm themselves. This reflects a deeper philosophical understanding of coexistence and balance in nature, where harmony with one's surroundings is crucial for sustainability and survival.
In practice
In a speech about environmental issues, this quote could be used to emphasize the importance of sustainable practices.
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.
It is impossible, in principle, to explain any pattern by invoking a single quantity.
Language commonly stresses only one side of any interaction.
What is the pattern that connects the crab to the lobster and the primrose to the orchid, and all of them to me, and me to you?
Science, like art, religion, commerce, warfare, and even sleep, is based on presuppositions.
It's more impressive," I said out loud. "From a distance, I mean. You can't see the wear on things, you know? You can't see the rust or the weeds or the paint cracking. You see the place as someone once imagined it.
Liberty is a word which, according as it is used, comprehends the most good and the most evil of any in the world.
Make no mistake: peaceful madmen are ahead of the future.
Neoliberalism has left Britain's boss classes drunk on triumphalism, paying themselves record salaries and bonuses while their workers are imprisoned by poverty and insecurity. It was never going to last.
A boy's will is the wind's will.
I felt lethal, on the verge of frenzy. My nightly bloodlust overflowed into my days and I had to leave the city. My mask of sanity was a victim of impending slippage. This was the bone season for me and I needed a vacation.
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