Fritjof Capra

emergence instability environment feedback

“The phenomenon of emergence takes place at critical points of instability that arise from fluctuations in the environment, amplified by feedback loops.”

― Fritjof Capra

state science common commodity capital reverse

“This state of affairs is not inevitable. Humans were able to employ science and law to transform common holdings into a commodity and then into capital; we also have the ability to reverse this path, transforming some of our now overabundant capital into renewed commons.”

― Fritjof Capra

communication information coordination living organisms

“Communication, according to Maturana, is not primarily a transmission of information, but rather a coordination of behavior between living organisms.”

― Fritjof Capra

living systems part whole autonomy

“The double role of living systems as parts and wholes requires the interplay of two opposite tendencies: an integrative tendency to function as part of a larger whole, and a self-assertive, or self-organizing tendency to preserve individual autonomy.”

― Fritjof Capra

system organization change obstacle mechanistic manage

“From the systems point of view, it is evident that one of the main obstacles to organizational change is the — largely unconscious — embrace by business leaders of the mechanistic approach to management.”

― Fritjof Capra

agressor destroy cooperation survival creativity

"In the end, the aggressors always destroy themselves, making way for others who know how to cooperate and get along. Life is much less a competitive struggle for survival than a triumph of cooperation and creativity."

― Fritjof Capra

network comlexity resilience

"The more complex the network is, the more complex its pattern of interconnections, the more resilient it will be."

― Fritjof Capra

quantum theory universe relations part whole observer

"Quantum theory thus reveals a basic oneness of the universe. It shows that we cannot decompose the world into independently existing smallest units. As we penetrate into matter, nature does not show us any isolated "building blocks," but rather appears as a complicated web of relations between the various parts of the whole. These relations always include the observer in an essential way. The human observer constitute the final link in the chain of observational processes, and the properties of any atomic object can be understood only in terms of the object's interaction with the observer."

― Fritjof Capra

western science control nature disaster

"Our Western science, ever since the 17th century, has been obsessed with the notion of control, of man dominating nature. This obsession has led to disaster."

― Fritjof Capra

paradigm greek pattern kuhn

"The term "paradigm," from the Greek paradeigma ("pattern"), was used by Kuhn to denote a conceptual framework shared by a community of scientists and providing them with model problems and solutions."

― Fritjof Capra

scientist responsible intellectually morally Buddha Bomb

"Scientists, therefore, are responsible for their research, not only intellectually but also morally. This responsibility has become an important issue in many of today's sciences, but especially so in physics, in which the results of quantum mechanics and relativity theory have opened up two very different paths for physicists to pursue. They may lead us - to put it in extreme terms - to the Buddha or to the Bomb, and it is up to each of us to decide which path to take."

― Fritjof Capra