A certain mother habitually rewards her small son with ice cream after he eats his…

A certain mother habitually rewards her small son with ice cream after he eats his spinach. What additional information would you need to be able to predict whether the child will: a. Come to love or hate spinach, b. Love or hate ice cream, or c. Love or hate Mother?

— Gregory Bateson, "Steps to an Ecology of Mind"

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  1. If the kid puts vinegar on his spinach he may hate his mother. 
    Ice cream plus spinach with vinegar equals curdled green sour milk vomit.

    Source: 
    I threw up a lot as a kid. Took me years to figure out the whole vinegar + milk product thing. 🙂

  2. Too many unaccounted variables.

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