Steps to an Ecology of Mind: Collected Essays in Anthropology, Psychiatry, Evolution, and Epistemology

Bateson explores the interplay between somatic changes, genotypic changes, and environmental pressures in biological evolution. He criticizes the simplistic understanding of adaptation and emphasizes the necessity of including an understanding of somatic change for species survival during environmental shifts. Somatic flexibility enables organisms to endure challenges, allowing time for appropriate changes or environmental stabilization.

Bateson argues against Lamarckian inheritance, emphasizing that somatic changes are reversible and inherently tied to homeostatic systems, which manage the organism’s adaptability. Fixing somatic traits through inheritance would disrupt the delicate balance of these systems, reducing flexibility and threatening survival. Instead, he introduces the concept of “affirmative” genotypic changes that simulate Lamarckian inheritance (355). These changes encode somatic adaptations into the genotype, which enhances systemic efficiency and frees homeostatic resources for future demands.

The chapter also discusses the economics of flexibility, proposing that the accumulation of genotypic mutations fractionates the range of somatic adaptability. Each new mutation imposes demands on the organism, and when combined, these demands multiply, potentially leading to lethal effects. To prevent this, Bateson argues, evolution must include genotypic changes that enhance somatic flexibility, enabling species to survive escalating environmental and genetic pressures.

Bateson examines the “Baldwin effect,” wherein somatic adaptations influence natural selection, favoring individuals whose genetic constitution aligns with adaptive somatic traits (363). He also speculates on a reverse effect, where fluctuating stress might favor transferring control from genetic to somatic mechanisms, maintaining flexibility in unpredictable environments.

Bateson examines communication among dolphins and other mammals, focusing on its relational nature and unique characteristics. He proposes that mammalian communication concerns relationships rather than specific objects or concepts. Using examples from wolves and cats, he argues that preverbal mammals convey messages about relationships through behaviors and signals, which humans interpret deductively. For instance, a cat meowing at its owner signals dependency, which prompts the owner to deduce that the cat wants food.

Bateson speculates that dolphins, as social and large-brained mammals, also engage in complex communication about relationships. Due to their aquatic adaptations, dolphins lack expressive facial features and rely on vocalizations for communication. He hypothesizes that dolphins’ vocalizations may serve as a system for discussing relational patterns.

Bateson concludes by contrasting analogic and digital communication. He argues that, while humans use digital language for discussing relationships abstractly, dolphins might employ a unique digital system specifically adapted to relational communication.

Bateson revisits Bateson’s Rule, developed by his father, William Bateson. This rule concerns patterns of symmetry in animals’ biology, particularly in limbs. The rule asserts that when a limb is reduplicated in the body, the result is typically a bilateral symmetrical structure (two symmetrical limbs). Bateson seeks to reinterpret this phenomenon using principles from cybernetics and information theory. He proposes that the absence of specific orienting information explains the emergence of bilateral symmetry in such cases. Basically, when extra limbs grow, they usually look alike because the body does not have the usual signals to make them different.

Bateson uses two examples to test his idea: beetles with double legs and amphibians with transplanted limbs. In beetles, an extra branch grows from a leg, forming a symmetrical double because no specific signal exists to make it asymmetrical. For amphibians, transplanted limbs often grow into mirror-image structures and even produce additional limbs, showing a more complicated process than in beetles and suggesting that other factors, like conflicting signals, influence how extra limbs develop.

Bateson concludes that symmetry in extra limbs happens because the normal body signals that guide growth are disrupted, but built-in backups in biology help maintain balance. Thus, extra limbs look symmetrical because disrupted signals default to symmetry to ensure stability in the body’s design.

The last chapter of Part 4 synthesizes the papers of this part. Bateson emphasizes the connection between internal readiness and external stimuli, framing learning and evolution as contextual interactions. Thus, for Bateson, readiness, which is the preparedness of an organism to express genetic information or a response to external conditions, represents finite potential shaped by structure.