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| What Is Going OnAprilAction |
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| Upcoming Events! |
| Join Us on April 19th for Communication, Consciousness, and Culture 2An Online Symposium Featuring 34 participants from all around the world, our fourth annual online symposium represents a continuation of the theme from last year’s in-person symposium that followed our annual Alfred Korzybski Memorial Lecture.The symposium is free and open to the public, but registration is required. For more information including the program schedule and participants, and to register, click below: |
| Information/Registration |
| Join Us in New York City on April 29thFor a Memorial forGary Gumpertand a screening ofThe Gutenberg Galaxyhis 1960 TV program featuringMarshall McLuhanAmong the speakers participating in the memorial will be IGS trustees Susan Drucker, Thom Gencarelli, and Lance Strate. The memorial and screening is cosponsored by the Urban Communication Foundation, the Media Ecology Association, and the New York Society for General Semantics. The event is free and open to the public, but registration is required for entry. For more information and to register, click below: |
| Information/Registration |
| Introduction to General SemanticsAn In-Person Seminar June 9-11Mexico CityIn conjunction with the annual meeting of the Media Ecology Association being held on June 5th to 8th at Universidad Panamericana in Mexico City and organized by IGS Trustee Laura Trujillo-Liñán, the IGS will hold its summer seminar at the university immediately following the MEA convention. This marks the third year in a row that we have continued the revival of this longstanding IGS tradition. This year the seminar will be led by IGS Trustees Mary Lahman, Lance Strate, Peggy Cassidy, and Thom Gencarelli. Registration is set at $100 for IGS members, $200 for non-members. For more information and to register, click below: |
| General Semantics Seminar |
| AKML UPDATEWe are pleased to announce that the 73rd Annual Alfred Korzybski Memorial Lecture, which is scheduled for October 3rd of this year, will be delivered by computer scientist and ethicist Tristan Harris, Executive Director of the Center for Humane Technology. Harris is perhaps best known for the Netflix documentary, The Social Dilemma. The AKML will be followed by a 2-day in-person symposium on the theme of Discourse, Dialogue, and Democracy on October 4th-5th. |
| The AKML evening will also feature a classical piano performance by Graziana Presicce, and a dinner, and along with the symposium will once again take place at the Players club in New York City.For more information about the AKML, click here. A call for papers for the symposium, and registration will all be made available in the near future. For now, please save the date, and remember that IGS membership covers attendance at the dinner and lecture, and also provides exclusive access to the livestream. |
| And speaking of the AKML and Symposium…The videos from the 2024 Alfred Korzybski Memorial Lecture, delivered by Maryanne Wolf, and the Symposium on Communication, Consciousness, and Culture, are now available for viewing on the IGS YouTube channel. For the entire playlist, click here.And if you missed all or part of our Science and Sanity Reading Group last year, or want to review any part of it, the video recordings of the 13 sessions are available on a special members-only page on the IGS website (log in required). |
| ETC Update ETC editor Thom Gencarelli reports that the fourth and final issue of volume 81 will be distributed by the end of the month to all of our members in good standing for 2024. Members joining us for 2025 will start to receive the first issues of volume 82 this summer. For now, here are the contents of the next issue: COVER ART Levels – David Miller; INTERIOR ARTPossible Maps of Impossible Territories – C. R. E. (Chris) Wells; Letter from the Editor; Martin H. Levinson, A GS Reality Detective Beats the Mob; Bruce I. Kodish, Korzybski and Peirce: A Meeting of Logic and Life; Olek Netzer, Collectively Insane Behavior in Conflict, Martin H. Levinson Dating the American Vice Presidency, Mark Hickson In Search of the Meaning of Authenticity: Using “Consensual Intuition” to Define Concepts; Roger Coe and Peter Zhang, Whitehead and the Yi Jing: An Interview; Thomas Rowe Behind Blue Eyes: 101 People Form a Feat of Colossal Abstraction; BOOK REVIEWS: Lilla, M. (2024.) Ignorance and bliss: On wanting not to know. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. (Martin H. Levinson); Fuhrman, J. (2025). Data mind: Poems. Curbstone Books/Northwestern University Press.(Steven Hicks); McClanahan, P. (2024). The new tourism: Waking up to the power and the perils of travel. Scribner. (Martin H. Levinson); Nayak, N. (2024). The other side of the rainbow. Notion Press. (Deepa Mishra); Strate, L. (2024). Not A, Not Be, &c. Institute of General Semantics. (Thom Gencarelli) |
| Podcast UpdateOur March episode features the return of author, humorist, scholar, and critic Marleen Barr to discuss her recently published anthology entitled, Jewish Women Science Fiction Writers Create Future Females, with IGS President Lance Strate. |
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| You can listen to all of our podcast episodes via our host site, and they are also available through most major podcast platforms, so please subscribe. Additionally, they can be accessed via our YouTube channel. |
| Call for PapersModeling Our Ways of Knowing: Examining and Evaluating the Structural Differential. Lance Strate and Bini B.S., EditorsThe year 2025 represents the 100th anniversary of Alfred Korzybski’s patenting of the structural differential model as a teaching tool for the non-aristotelian discipline of general semantics. Discussed in detail in his magnum opus, Science and Sanity: An Introduction to Non-Aristotelian Systems and General Semantics, originally published in 1933 and now in its sixth edition, the structural differential (also known as the anthropometer) was produced as both a three-dimensional model with discs and wires and as a two-dimensional diagram. In commemoration of the centenary of the model’s introduction, we are calling for submissions that examine Korzybski’s key innovation from diverse approaches and modes of analysis.Possible topics include (but are not limited to): the disciplinary and methodological underpinnings of the structural differential, i.e., in linguistics, mathematics, science, philosophy, politics, economics, psychology, etc.; visual and verbal antecedents of the model; the model’s innovative visual design and tactile qualities; Korzybski’s process of invention, introduction, and presentation of the model; different variations of the model produced by Korzybski and others, and alternative models such as S.I. Hayakawa’s abstraction ladder; the range of meanings and interpretations of the structural differential; the structural differential and human engineering, time-binding, consciousness of abstracting, etc.; the model’s interconnections and interdependence with other tools/methods of Korzybski; the lives and afterlives of the structural differential through multiple interpreters/practitioners of general semantics; the model in relation to relativity and quantum physics, neurobiology, behavioral psychology, etc.; the model’s relevance for and contributions to areas of study such as communication, literary studies, systems theory, media ecology, etc.; the model and the arts, cinema, literature, media, etc.; the structural differential and democratic consciousness; the structural differential and sanity; critical assessments of the model’s usefulness as a pedagogical tool; the timeliness and the enduring relevance of the structural differential.Research papers should follow the APA 7th edition. We are open to length and format, from full-length essays and articles to short probes and think pieces (and possibly poetic work and images). What matters most is the quality of the submission and the intellectual and/or creative contribution that it makes. Submissions were due by April 1st for full consideration (inquiries and proposals are welcome at any time) but are still welcome, and should be sent to president at generalsemantics.org. |
| Recent Publications |
Not A, Not Be, &c is not just another collection of essays on general semantics. Not that it is not exactly that, a collection of essays on general semantics specifically, and on what Neil Postman described as general semantics writ large, aka media ecology. This colorful collection of essays, complete with illustrations and indexes, cover topics related to human communication and the human condition, the contrast between alphabetic and electronic cultures, a new tree of life model, understanding different types of symbolic form (i.e., words, images, and numbers), problems and possibilities regarding the copula and conjunctions, the nature of imagination, and coping with and changing the world we live in. Not A, Not Be, &c is a wonderful intellectual playground. Strate crafts complex systems of ideas into a delightful landscape that will be a joy for any curious mind to roam. Lera Boroditsky, Professor of Cognitive Science, U. of Cal. San Diego Contents: Prolegomenon (Not Not An Introduction); If Not A, Then E; Word, Image, Number; It Is What It Isn’t; Figments of a Fragment, or Fragments of a Figment; So You Want to Change the World? A Hitchhiker’s Guide to Subversive Thinking; The And. Available in paperback and ebook editions from the IGS store and other online booksellers |
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| Alfred Korzybski’s magnum opus,Science and Sanityin French Translation!Patrick Hug‘s translation of the Sixth Edition of Science and Sanity features updated illustrations and diagrams, and a new index, and is available in hardcover, paperback, and ebook editions from the IGS store and other online booksellers |
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| A transcription made from lectures given at Alfred Korzybski‘s seminar in general semantics at Olivet College in 1937. This is Korzybski «caught live.» The text retains much of the warm, anecdotal flavor of his platform manner, with minimal editing. The text includes 14 lectures given to college students on general semantics theory, backgrounds, and applications. The fourth edition features a foreword and newly added index by Corey Anton. From the Foreword to the Fourth Edition by Corey Anton: «This book is a collection of lectures given by Korzybski at Olivet College in Michigan in 1937, and it remains a seminal work in the field of general semantics. In contrast to the daunting persona and technical vocabulary of Science and Sanity, we here find a more approachable Korzybski, one offering lively examples in a much more accessible style.» Available in paperback and searchable ebook editionsfrom the IGS Store and via other online outlets |
| In Local NewsVideos from recent New York Society for General Semantics events organized by NYSGS President (and IGS Trustee) Peggy Cassidy are now available for viewing on the NYSGS YouTube channel. They include last summer’s General Semantics Olympics featuring IGS Past President Martin Levinson and former ETC editor Bill Petkanas, as well as Michael Grabowski and Mary Alexander; October’s Semantic Environments of Psychotherapy: From AI to Zoom, featuring Peter Costello and Lori Ramos, and January’s Misinformation, Misdirection, Manipulation and Mischief: Making Sense of Contemporary Propaganda with Christina Knopf and Fernando Gutiérrez (all of the sessions were moderated by Peggy Cassidy).The Australian General Semantics Society session featuring IGS TrusteeMartin Levinsonspeaking on «GS and Civil Political Discourse» is now available for viewing on YouTube. Also, their recent program featuring Prof. Melanie Trecek-King speaking on «Why Facts (Usually) Don’t Change Our Minds» is now on YouTube for your viewing pleasure and edification.The Balvant Parekh Centre of General Semantics and Other Human Sciences in India held a seminar on Orality, Textuality and Time Binding on March 11th to 13th. IGS Vice-President Corey Anton delivered a keynote address entitled, «Understanding Literacy: Differences Between the Spoken, Written, and Printed Word». For more information, click here. |
| Let Us Hear From You!Do you have news related to local general semantics organizations and programs that you would like to share with us? Are you interested in starting, reviving, or enhancing a local group or society? We would love to hear from you, and to help you in any way that we can. Please feel free to contact us at <president@generalsemantics.org>. |
| Show Off Your Non-Aristotelian Style In Style!We are pleased to introduced a brand new lapel pin based on the IGS logo.Now on sale exclusively via the IGS store for only $10! |
| What’s Been Going OnIGS President Lance Strate was interviewed for the Gadfly Academy/You Are Not a Machine YouTube channel; a playlist for the 3-part series can be viewed here. He was also a guest, along with Sean Illing, on an episode of the Center for Humane Technology’s podcast, Your Undivided Attention, interviewed by Tristan Harris on Neil Postman and the contemporary media environment. This episode is available via most major podcast distributors (or just click on the link above or right here), and a video of the discussion is available on YouTube. Additionally, he was a guest on Paul Levinson’s podcast to discuss his new book published by the IGS, Not A, Not Be, &c. The full episode of Light On Light Through is also available via most major podcast distributors (or just click on the link above or right here), and a video of the conversation is also available on YouTube. Artist, writer, and scholar John Cussans has published a book chapter, «This is Not A Diagram: Applying General Semantics to Contemporary Arts Pedagogy» in a co-authored book entitled, Drawing Analogies: Diagrams in Art, Theory, and Practice, published by Bloomsbury Collections. The book is available to download for free via Open Access agreement. To access the specific chapter, click here. Martin H. Levinson, a trustee and past president of the Institute of General Semantics, and author of several books published by the IGS, has been quoted in Barron’s magazine. To read the article online click here. He also authored a piece entitled «Semantic Antics» that was published in the February 2025 issue of the Mensa Bulletin.We are proud to share that IGS Trustee Chris Meyer, author of two books published by the IGS, How Do You Know: A Guide to Clear Thinking About Wall Street, Investing, and Life, and Dear Fellow Time-Binder: Letters on General Semantics, has been interviewed in Edge magazine. To read the interview online click here. |
| Coming in 2025Sensible Thinking 3 by Martin H. Levinson.An anthology on General Semantics and Politics edited by Corey Anton and Thom Gencarelli.IGS programs at several upcoming conferences, including the the Media Ecology Association, the International Communication Association, and the National Communication Association.A new reading group for the 4th edition of Alfred Korzybski‘s General Semantics Seminar 1937: Olivet College Lectures.And more! So stay tuned… |
| Social Media Reminder: We have an official IGS Group on Facebook. To join, just search for the Institute of General Semantics, and ask to join. And look for InstituteofGS on X(Twitter), Instagram, and YouTube, to find, follow, and subscribe to us!We are now on Bluesky! Look for @generalsemantics.org! |
| And Re-member-ship!Emails have been going out to renew or join anew. We appreciate and value each and every one of you, and we don’t want you to miss out on everything that we have to offer! So please activate your membership for 2025, and encourage others to join! It is easier than ever to join or renew online, or download our membership form if you would prefer to send a check or otherwise join by mail. IGS membership benefits includeSubscription to our journal ETC: A Review of General SemanticsDiscounts on books and other items at the IGS StoreAccess to the members-only pages of the IGS websiteFree admission for members and their guests to the annual Alfred Korzybski Memorial Lecture and dinner, and accompanying symposium (and exclusive access to the livestream)Discounts on other events, seminars, and coursesIf you are pleased with our efforts and want to show your support, please do so by joining and renewing your membership. And consider going above and beyond by joining on the Contributor, Supporter, Sponsor, or Time-Binder level. And please keep us in mind for charitable donations. The IGS is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit corporation, so your donations are tax deductible. |
| You are receiving this message because your email is on file with the Institute of General Semantics. Please feel free to forward this email to others who may be interested in what we have to offer.If you want to sign up as a non-member to receive information and updates from us, click here.We will be sharing more exciting news in future editions of What Is Going On, so please be sure to stay subscribed for more updates and announcements. |
19,105 Institute of General Semantics, April 2025
Blog de Octavio Islas 