Gregory Bateson

Forty-five years ago the late Gregory Bateson [1904 – 1980] wrote these ominous words:

It is often said that the invention of terrible weapons of destruction will put an end to war. That is an error. As the means of extermination are improved, the means of reducing men who hold the state conception of life to submission can be improved to correspond.
– Leo Tolstoy, The Kingdom of God is Within You (1849)