Gregory Bateson (1904-1980) was a true polymath—making big contributions in cognitive science, anthropology, systems theory, & psychiatry along with being a photographer, naturalist, and poet.
His lessons are just as relevant today as they were 70 years ago, but he’s all but forgotten.
In 2010, his daughter created a beautiful documentary on him. The clips from it in this post collectively convey the beauty, connectedness, and wisdom of his worldview.
Takeaway #1: Everything Is Connected
“It is inculcated by our great universities… that the world is made of separable items of knowledge… And the first point I want to get over to you is that the world is not like that at all.”
—Gregory Bateson
To see the connections, Bateson asks the following questions:
How does it work?
How does it think?
How does it learn?
What does it work with?
How does it interact with the things it works with?
What is its function?
Why look at things from so many perspectives? Bateson explains…
“What happens is that when you …
