“A system is anything that talks to itself.”
Out of Control: The New Biology of Machines, Social Systems and the Economic World (1995)
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Kevin Kelly141
American author and editor 1952Related quotes
“Literature is humanity talking to itself.”
Norman Rush (1933) American writer
“A good newspaper, I suppose, is a nation talking to itself.”
Arthur Miller (1915–2005) playwright from the United States
As quoted in The Observer [London] (26 November 1961)
Jacques Monod (1910–1976) French biologist
Monod (1974) "On chance and necessity". In F. J. Ayala & T. Dobzhansky, (Eds.), Studies in the philosophy of biology. cited in: Brian R. Gaines (1979) " General systems research: quo vadis? http://pages.cpsc.ucalgary.ca/~gaines/reports/SYS/GS79/GS79.pdf", General Systems, Vol. 24 (1979), p. 4
François-Noël Babeuf (1760–1797) French political agitator and journalist of the French Revolutionary period
La féodalité n'est qu'un système d'Esclaves et de Tyrans; ma patrie veut-être libre, ne peut plus rien conserver dans ce qui tient à ce système.
[in Gracchus Babeuf avec les Egaux, Jean-Marc Shiappa, Les éditions ouvrières, 1991, 38, 27082 2892-7]
On feudalism
“By an object, I mean anything that we can think, i. e. anything we can talk about.”
Charles Sanders Peirce (1839–1914) American philosopher, logician, mathematician, and scientist
"Reflections on Real and Unreal Objects", Undated, MS 966
“Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it.”
Mark Twain (1835–1910) American author and humorist
Notes on sourcing http://www.bartleby.com/73/1982.html <br class="br">Twain did say:<br>: "There is a sumptuous variety about the New England weather that compels the stranger's admiration — and regret. The weather is always doing something there … In the spring I have counted one hundred and thirty-six different kinds of weather inside of four and twenty hours. ...<br>Yes, one of the brightest gems in the New England weather is the dazzling uncertainty of it."<br>:* Speech at the dinner of New England Society in New York City (22 December 1876) <br class="br">Misattributed
Noam Chomsky (1928) american linguist, philosopher and activist
Chomsky on Miseducation, 1999 http://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/~rgibson/rouge_forum/newspaper/fall2001/Chomsky.htm. <br class="br">Quotes 1990s, 1995-1999 <br class="br">Context: Because they don't teach the truth about the world, schools have to rely on beating students over the head with propaganda about democracy. If schools were, in reality, democratic, there would be no need to bombard students with platitudes about democracy. They would simply act and behave democratically, and we know this does not happen. The more there is a need to talk about the ideals of democracy, the less democratic the system usually is.