"First-order cybernetics is the science of observed systems; Second-order cybernetics is the science of observing systems."

-- Heinz von Foerster

#Order Quotes #Cybernetics Quotes #Firsts Quotes

“Being slagged off is good for you. It thickens the skin and strengthens the backbone.”
“Yet across the gulf of space, minds that are to our minds as ours are to those of the beasts that perish, intellects vast and cool and unsympathetic, regarded this earth with envious eyes, and slowly and surely drew their plans against us.”
“The more one considers the matter, the clearer it becomes that redistribution is in effect far less a redistribution of free income from the richer to the poorer, as we imagined, than a redistribution of power from the individual to the State.”

Source : Baron Bertrand de Jouvenel, Bertrand De Jouvenel (2010). “The Ethics of Redistribution”, p.73, Cambridge University Press
“The reality is that international institutions like the UN can only be as effective as its members allow it to be.”

Source : "A World Without Leadership: Ten Questions with Ian Bremmer (Part 1)". Interview with Ali Wyne, bigthink.com. May 6, 2012.
“The end of an age is always a time of turmoil, war, economic catastrophe, cynicism, lawlessness and distress. But it is also an era of heightened challenge and creativity, of issues, and their world-wide scope, never has an era faced a more demanding and exciting crisis. This then, above all else, is the great and glorious era to live in, a time of of opportunity, one requiring fresh and vigorous thinking, indeed, a glorious time to be alive.”
“The English say, Yours Truly, and mean it. The Italians say, I kiss your feet, and mean, I kick your head.”
“There's this perception that if you worry a lot and if you look really busy and stressed out then you'll be more successful. You talk about how little sleep you get and how tensed you are and how you're not getting the appreciation you deserve.”
“If you're doing something outside of dominant culture, there's not an easy place for you. You will have to do it yourself.”

Source : "Filmmaker Ava DuVernay". "The Tavis Smiley Show", www.pbs.org. October 9, 2012.

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