Editing Gregory Bateson (section)

===Ecological anthropology and cybernetics===
In his book ''[[Steps to an Ecology of Mind]]'', Bateson applied [[cybernetics]] to the field of [[ecological anthropology]] and the concept of [[homeostasis]].<ref name="Bateson 1972">{{cite book | author=Bateson, Gregory | title=Steps to an Ecology of Mind: Collected Essays in Anthropology, Psychiatry, Evolution, and Epistemology | publisher=University of Chicago Press | year=1972 | isbn=0-226-03905-6}}</ref> He saw the world as a series of systems containing those of individuals, societies and ecosystems. Within each system is found competition and dependency. Each of these systems has adaptive changes which depend upon [[feedback loops]] to control balance by changing multiple variables.  Bateson believed that these self-correcting systems were conservative by controlling exponential slippage.  He saw the natural ecological system as innately good as long as it was allowed to maintain homeostasis<ref name="Bateson 1972"/> and that the key unit of survival in evolution was an organism and its environment.<ref name="Bateson 1972"/>

Bateson also viewed that all three systems of the individual, society and ecosystem were all together a part of one supreme cybernetic system that controls everything instead of just interacting systems.<ref name="Bateson 1972"/> This supreme cybernetic system is beyond the self of the individual and could be equated to what many people refer to as God, though Bateson referred to it as Mind.<ref name="Bateson 1972"/> While Mind is a cybernetic system, it can only be distinguished as a whole and not parts. Bateson felt Mind was immanent in the messages and pathways of the supreme cybernetic system. He saw the root of the system collapse as a result of [[Occidentalism|Occidental]] or [[Western culture|Western]] [[epistemology]]. According to Bateson, consciousness is the bridge between the cybernetic networks of individuals, society and ecology and the mismatch between the systems due to improper understanding will result in the degradation of the entire supreme cybernetic system or Mind. Bateson thought that consciousness as developed through Occidental epistemology was at direct odds with Mind.<ref name="Bateson 1972"/>

At the heart of the matter is scientific [[hubris]]. Bateson argues that Occidental epistemology perpetuates a system of understanding which is purpose or means-to-an-end driven.<ref name="Bateson 1972"/> Purpose controls attention and narrows perception, thus limiting what comes into consciousness and therefore limiting the amount of wisdom that can be generated from the perception.  Additionally, Occidental epistemology propagates the false notion that man exists outside Mind and this leads man to believe in what Bateson calls the philosophy of control based upon false knowledge.<ref name="Bateson 1972"/>

Bateson presents Occidental epistemology as a method of thinking that leads to a mindset in which man exerts an [[autocratic]] rule over all cybernetic systems.<ref name="Bateson 1972"/> In exerting his autocratic rule man changes the environment to suit him and in doing so he unbalances the natural cybernetic system of controlled competition and mutual dependency. The purpose-driven accumulation of knowledge ignores the supreme cybernetic system and leads to the eventual breakdown of the entire system. Bateson claims that man will never be able to control the whole system because it does not operate in a [[linear]] fashion and if man creates his own rules for the system, he opens himself up to becoming a slave to the self-made system due to the non-linear nature of cybernetics.  Lastly, man's technological prowess combined with his scientific hubris gives him the potential to irrevocably damage and destroy the supreme cybernetic system, instead of just disrupting the system temporally until the system can self-correct.<ref name="Bateson 1972"/>

Bateson argues for a position of humility and acceptance of the natural cybernetic system instead of scientific arrogance as a solution.<ref name="Bateson 1972"/> He believes that humility can come about by abandoning the view of operating through consciousness alone. Consciousness is only one way in which to obtain knowledge and without complete knowledge of the entire cybernetic system disaster is inevitable. The limited conscious must be combined with the unconscious in a complete synthesis. Only when thought and emotion are combined in whole is man able to obtain complete knowledge. He believed that religion and art are some of the few areas in which a man acts as a whole individual in complete consciousness.  By acting with this greater wisdom of the supreme cybernetic system as a whole man can change his relationship to Mind from one of [[schism (religion)|schism]], in which he is endlessly tied up in constant competition, to one of [[:wikt:complementarity|complementarity]].  Bateson argues for a culture that promotes the most general wisdom and is able to flexibly change within the supreme cybernetic system.<ref name="Bateson 1972"/>