Source: 1970s, Ecodynamics: A New Theory Of Societal Evolution, 1978, p. 20
“The study a posteriori of the distribution of consciousness shows it to be exactly such as we might expect in an organ added for the sake of steering a nervous system grown too complex to regulate itself.”
Source: 1890s, The Principles of Psychology (1890), Ch. 5
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William James 246
American philosopher, psychologist, and pragmatist 1842–1910Related quotes

“The earth has grown a nervous system, and it's us.”
The Genius of Charles Darwin (television, 2008)

Michael Halliday (2005, p. 68) as cited in: Andrew Halliday and Marion Glaser (2011) "A Management Perspective on Social Ecological Systems". In: Human Ecology Review, Vol. 18, No. 1, 2011.
1970s and later

Source: Adventures of a Mathematician - Third Edition (1991), Chapter 15, Random Reflections on Mathematics and Science, p. 274
Source: Matter and Consciousness, 1984/1988/2013, p. 96; As cited in: Peter Zachar (2000) Psychological Concepts and Biological Psychiatry. p. 132

“Complexity must be grown from simple systems that already work.”
Out of Control: The New Biology of Machines, Social Systems and the Economic World (1995)
Source: In Defense of Chaos: The Chaology of Politics, Economics and Human Action, (2013), p. 118
Source: Complexity and Postmodernism (1998), p. 107

Source: The Mind and the Brain, 1907, p. 17