Blackwell Reference Online

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A sequence of events is described as ‘stochastic’ when it combines a random component with a selective process so that certain outcomes are preferred to others. In several of his works ( Mind and natue, Steps to an ecology of mind ), Bateson advances the hypothesis that biological evolution (genetic change) and learning (somatic change) are stochastic processes. He thus views evolution and the process of thought as two double stochastic processes functioning alternately: ‘In each case there is, I believe, a stream of events that is random in certain aspects and in each case there is a non-random selective process which causes certain of the random components to “survive” longer than others’ (Bateson, 1979, p. 147). Genetic change and somatic change are fundamentally similar by dint of their stochastic nature. The one extends over several generations and operates through heredity for a whole population and is termed evolution. The other extends over one life only, is located within an individual and is known as learning. In both these types of change, the processes at work create a considerable number of possibilities and, from among these, selection eliminates the ones which would not be favourable from the point of view of survival. The difference resides in the way in which these possibilities are stored. The random mutations which constitute the possibilities of genetic change ... log in or subscribe to read full text