"Numbers are the product of counting. Quantities are the product of measurement. This means that numbers can conceivably be accurate because there is a discontinuity between each integer and the next. Between two and three there is a jump. In the case of quantity there is no such jump, and because jump is missing in the world of quantity it is impossible for any quantity to be exact. You can have exactly three tomatoes. You can never have exactly three gallons of water. Always quantity is approximate."
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Academics from EnglandPhilosophers from EnglandLinguists from EnglandAnthropologists from EnglandCyberneticists
Original Language: English
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Bateson (1978) "Number is Different from Quantity". In: CoEvolution Quarterly, Spring 1978, pp. 44-46
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Gregory_Bateson
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Gregory Bateson
Gregory Bateson (May 9, 1904 – July 4, 1980) was a British anthropologist, social scientist, linguist, visual anthropologist, semiotician and cyberneticist whose work intersected that of many other fields. He was married to Margaret Mead.
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