Metapattern

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Metapattern is a term coined by Gregory Bateson and a concept described by environmental scientist Tyler Volk in Metapatterns: Across Space, Time, and Mind. Metapatterns are, loosely, patterns of patterns. In other words a pattern so wide-flung that it appears throughout the spectrum of reality: in clouds, rivers, and planets; in cells, organisms, and ecosystems; in art and architecture, and politics. They are functional universals for forms in space, processes in time, and concepts in mind. Volk describes ten such patterns: Spheres, Sheets/Tubes, Borders, Binaries, Centers, Layers, Calendars, Arrows, Breaks, and Cycles.