W. Ross Ashby

W. Ross Ashby Digital Archive

science observer digest

"Science is the 'Observer's Digest'."

— W. Ross Ashby (1903-1972)

species aimless goal

"The species is fundamentally aimless (it finds its goals as it goes along)."

— W. Ross Ashby (1903-1972)

knowledge humiliation

"Man pays for his knowledge with humiliation."

— W. Ross Ashby (1903-1972)

goal species homo natural selection driven

"The goals of a species (such as Homo) are what natural selection has driven it to."

— W. Ross Ashby (1903-1972)

human brain tribal warfare army continent massacre

"The specially human part of the brain has been evolved for the chase and for tribal warfare. The final evolution allowed armies of continental size to massacre on a continental scale."

— W. Ross Ashby (1903-1972)

brain opportunist long term plan

"The brain is wholly opportunist, no less when it proposes a long term plan."

— W. Ross Ashby (1903-1972)

life potential carbon

"Is my/your life achieving the full potentialities of carbon ?"

— W. Ross Ashby (1903-1972)

homo knowledge moment future

"What Homo knows at any moment, of the actual future is absolutely nothing."

— W. Ross Ashby (1903-1972)

prediction operation past

"Every prediction is an operation on the past (Wiener)"

— W. Ross Ashby (1903-1972)

brain inside guide

"The brain has no brain inside to guide it."

— W. Ross Ashby (1903-1972)

man faculty humiliate embarass environment

"Every one of the faculties boasted of by Man can become a humiliating or fatal embarrassment when the environment is not the usual type."

— W. Ross Ashby (1903-1972)

brain information useless useful

"The brain takes information from where it is useless and moves it to where it is useful."

— W. Ross Ashby (1903-1972)

brain function error correction

"The whole function of the brain is summed up in: error-correction."

— W. Ross Ashby (1903-1972)

function brain behaviour

"Functionally, the behaviour is the brain."

— W. Ross Ashby (1903-1972)

think act inside brain

"To think is to act — inside the brain."

— W. Ross Ashby (1903-1972)

brain control transmit

"The brain controls nothing — it transmits."

— W. Ross Ashby (1903-1972)

brain knowing ought act do

"The brain knows nothing of how it ought to act; it knows only what it does."

— W. Ross Ashby (1903-1972)

mechanism brain-like effective

"A mechanism is "brain-like" so far as it is effective: there is nothing more."

— W. Ross Ashby (1903-1972)

brain present construct

"The brain knows only the present and what it can construct from the present."

— W. Ross Ashby (1903-1972)

memory present state affairs

"There is no memory in the present — only a state of affairs."

— W. Ross Ashby (1903-1972)

system storage memory work remember

"Any system that stores its memories away from the site of action must do much work in remembering where it has put that memory."

— W. Ross Ashby (1903-1972)

adult brain wreckage experience childhood

"The adult brain is the wreckage left by the experiences of childhood."

— W. Ross Ashby (1903-1972)

educated brain wreckage experience training

"The educated brain is the wreckage left after the experiences of training."

— W. Ross Ashby (1903-1972)

knowledge purely new

"No man knows what to do against the purely new."

— W. Ross Ashby (1903-1972)

wisdom after event

"All wisdom is wisdom after the event."

— W. Ross Ashby (1903-1972)

psychology two thousand years highest faculties possess

"For two thousand years psychology was a simple description of Man's highest faculties — most of which he does not posses."

— W. Ross Ashby (1903-1972)

am think

"I am; therefore I think."

— W. Ross Ashby (1903-1972)

help another altruism selfishness species

""Help one another" is the selfishness of the species."

— W. Ross Ashby (1903-1972)

logical degraded useless informationcynic unthinking

""Logic" and "logical" are so degraded today that they convey no useful information. They are still used chiefly because they look well, either by the cynic or by the unthinking."

— W. Ross Ashby (1903-1972)

gibbon parabolic arc branch knowledgeNewtonian dynamics

"Any gibbon, as it throws itself on parabolic arcs from branch to branch, demonstrates its knowledge of Newtonian dynamics."

— W. Ross Ashby (1903-1972)

intelligent is does

"Intelligent is as intelligent does."

— W. Ross Ashby (1903-1972)

random you do choosing

""Random" means "you do the choosing"."

— W. Ross Ashby (1903-1972)

rule for decision narrow field please

"The rule for decision is: Use what you know to narrow the field as far as possible: after that, do as you please."

— W. Ross Ashby (1903-1972)

genral intelligence universal weapon

"Is there a general intelligence? A universal weapon is as likely."

— W. Ross Ashby (1903-1972)

organism intelligent environment

"An organism should be as intelligent as its environment — no more, no less."

— W. Ross Ashby (1903-1972)

environment opposite wisdom folly

"Change the environment to its opposite and every piece of wisdom becomes the worst of folly."

— W. Ross Ashby (1903-1972)

design good brain bad

"He who would design a good brain must first know how to make a bad one."

— W. Ross Ashby (1903-1972)

pattern-recognition discard information

"Pattern-recognition is a throwing away of information."

— W. Ross Ashby (1903-1972)

general purpose computer free trained brain

"The general purpose computer is freer than the trained brain."

— W. Ross Ashby (1903-1972)

AI artificial intelligence computer intelligent philosopher

"Whether a computer can be "really" intelligent is not a question for the philosophers: they know nothing about either computers or intelligence."

— W. Ross Ashby (1903-1972)

organisation existence eye beholder

"Organisation exists mostly in the eye of the beholder."

— W. Ross Ashby (1903-1972)

biological organization resistant spaniards Aztecs Mexico Amazon

"Which biological organization proved more resistant to the Spaniards — the Aztecs of Mexico or the jungle of the Amazon?"

— W. Ross Ashby (1903-1972)

self-organizing system property change

"Can a system be self-organizing? No system can permanently have the property that it changes properties."

— W. Ross Ashby (1903-1972)

locomotive self-push cat wash animal observe man punish

"No locomotive can be self-pushing.

No cat can be self-washing.

No animal can be self-observing.

No man can be self-punishing."

— W. Ross Ashby (1903-1972)

dynamic system preferred vibration simple complex

"Every dynamic system has its preferred modes of vibration, perhaps simple, perhaps complex."

— W. Ross Ashby (1903-1972)

vibrate musical instrument stable mechanical brain

"Whatever vibrates is a musical instrument: whatever is stable is a mechanical brain — the difficulty lies in making a particular one."

— W. Ross Ashby (1903-1972)

rhapsodise will law of nature onstraint

"Rhapsodise as you will, a law of nature is just a constraint."

— W. Ross Ashby (1903-1972)