Institute of General Semantics Publications

March Podcast Episode

Tue, 31 Mar 2026 17:17:32 GMT

The forty-third episode of Semantic Reactions, the official podcast of the Institute of General Semantics, is now available for your listening pleasure. Our March 2026 podcast features features Peggy Cassidy, Thom Gencarelli, and Lance Strate discussing media ecology and general semantics. Their conversation follows up on a program sponsored by the New York Society for General Semantics,, and touches on topics such as the influence of general semantics on media ecology, sense perception and the human nervous system, language and symbolic form, orality and literacy, the effects of new technologies, and AI.

You can access Episode 43 via our host site, and it is also available through most major podcast platforms, also on YouTube, and below:

February Podcast Episode

Sat, 28 Feb 2026 18:03:45 GMT

The forty-second episode of Semantic Reactions, the official podcast of the Institute of General Semantics, is now available for your listening pleasure. Our Februrary 2026 podcast features features award-winning Canadian documentarian Kevin McMahon, the director of approximately 30 films, including McLuhan’s Wake (2002). In conversation with Lance Strate, he discusses his career as a journalist and filmmaker, the practice of making documentaries, the idea of nonfiction film, and media scholars Marshall McLuhan and Neil Postman.

You can access Episode 42 via our host site, and it is also available through most major podcast platforms, also on YouTube, and below:

2025 AKML & Symposium Videos Now Available

Mon, 16 Feb 2026 21:45:36 GMT

The videos from the 73rd Annual Alfred Korzybski Memorial Lecture and the Discourse, Dialogue, and Democracy Symposium held on October 3rd-5th, 2025 at the Players in New York City are now available for viewing on the IGS YouTube channel, both separately and in chronological order via a YouTube Playlist.

Due to technical difficulties, none of the presentations from the Friday afternoon session were captured, nor was the actual AKML apart from a very brief excerpt. A plethora of presentations are included, however, and can be viewed below or over on YouTube.

January Podcast Episode

Sat, 31 Jan 2026 18:22:24 GMT

The forty-first episode of Semantic Reactions, the official podcast of the Institute of General Semantics, is now available for your listening pleasure. Our Janurary 2026 podcast features features IGS trustees Corey Anton, Susan Drucker, Thom Gencarelli, and Lance Strate discussing politics in the United States in light of recent events in Minneapolis. Their conveersation deals with the concerns brought on by the current media and semantic environment, the use of cell phone cameras and video recordings, the introduction of deep fakes, information overload and image culture, and the importance of language.

You can access Episode 41 via our host site, and it is also available through most major podcast platforms, also on YouTube, and below:

December Podcast Episode

Sat, 20 Dec 2025 19:23:29 GMT

The fortieth episode of Semantic Reactions, the official podcast of the Institute of General Semantics, is now available for your listening pleasure. Our December 2025 podcast features Susan Drucker, who is an IGS Trustee, Professor of Journalism at Hofstra University, and a founder of the Urban Communication Foundation, and Erik Garrett, a professor of communication and rhetoric at Duquesne University and a member of the Urban Communication Foundation’s Board of Directors. In conversation with IGS President Lance Strate, they discuss areas of mutual interest between the Urban Communication Foundation and the Institute of General Semantics, and talk about topics such as language and the problems of definition, practical applications, policy and governance, city planning, architecture, postmodernism, maps and territories, the effects of technology, and the importance of human scale and organic community.

You can access Episode 40 via our host site, and it is also available through most major podcast platforms, also on YouTube, and below:

November Podcast Episode

Mon, 17 Nov 2025 19:15:26 GMT

The thirty-ninth episode of Semantic Reactions, the official podcast of the Institute of General Semantics, is now available for your listening pleasure. Our November 2025 podcast features a recording of an IGS sponsored session that took place at the annual meeting of the National Communication Association. The program entitled Perspectives on Politics and the Future of Democracy that included IGS trustees Corey Anton, Peggy Cassidy, Susan Drucker, Thom Gencarelli, and Lance Strate. Their discussion touched on a variety of topics, including Alfred Korzybski’s emphasis on science and progress, public discourse in the United States today, the role of news media in political campaigns, freedom of speech and the problem of hate speech, the rise of authoritarianism, and the relationship between technology and politics.

You can access Episode 39 via our host site, and it is also available through most major podcast platforms, also on YouTube, and below:

AKML and Symposium Slideshow

Sat, 15 Nov 2025 18:04:14 GMT

We are pleased to share the following slideshow video featuring photographs taken at the 73rd Annual Alfred Korzybski Memorial Lecture and the Symposium on Discourse, Dialogue, and Democracy, October 3rd-5th, 2025, at the Players, New York City.

Slideshow video produced by Grace Foley.

Photos courtesy of Ricardo Meneses Calzada.

October Podcast Episode

Wed, 29 Oct 2025 17:57:08 GMT

The thirty-eighth episode of Semantic Reactions, the official podcast of the Institute of General Semantics, is now available for your listening pleasure. Our October 2025 podcast features author, filmmaker, and IGS trustee Nora Bateson, who is also president of the International Bateson Institute and the creator of the Warm Data Labs initiative. Her conversation with IGS president Lance Strate centers on the current sense that we are experiencing multiple crises, or what has been referred to as a polycrisis or metacrisis. They also touch on topics such as science communication, therapy, the family, language, AI, and storytelling, and draw upon media ecology, warm data, and general semantics.

You can access Episode 38 via our host site, and it is also available through most major podcast platforms, also on YouTube, and below:

September Podcast Episode

Tue, 30 Sep 2025 17:47:37 GMT

The thirty-seventh episode of Semantic Reactions, the official podcast of the Institute of General Semantics, is now available for your listening pleasure. Our September 2025 podcast features features Cristina Knopf, a professor of Communication and Media Studies at the State University of New York at Cortland, in conversation with IGS president Lance Strate. Their discussion focuses on her research in comics studies and reflections on the comic book medium, its history, and the superhero genre, as well as the depiction of superheroes in movies and television, including this past summer’s films featuring Superman, and the Fantastic Four.

You can access Episode 37 via our host site, and it is also available through most major podcast platforms, also on YouTube, and below:

August Podcast Episode

Wed, 27 Aug 2025 17:38:09 GMT

The thirty-sixth episode of Semantic Reactions, the official podcast of the Institute of General Semantics, is now available for your listening pleasure. Our August 2025 podcast features coaches Keith Clark and Ted Delicath, in conversation with IGS president Lance Strate, discussing the CORO Fellows Program in Public Affairs and its relation to general semantics, as well as related topics such as leadership, governance, listening, cybernetics, and journalism.

You can access Episode 365 via our host site, and it is also available through most major podcast platforms, also on YouTube, and below:

July Podcast Episode

Wed, 30 Jul 2025 17:42:17 GMT

The thirty-fifth episode of Semantic Reactions, the official podcast of the Institute of General Semantics, is now available for your listening pleasure. Our July 2025 podcast features writer and journalist Ryan Zickgraf, the author of an op-ed on the continuing relevance of Neil Postman’s best known book, Amusing Ourselves to Death that was recently published by the Washington Post. IGS president Lance Strate conducts the interview, which touches on politics and democracy, gamergate, the effects of screens and social media on public discourse, the additional impact of AI, the decline of rationality and time-binding, as well as the reaction against technology on the part of Gen Z.

You can access Episode 35 via our host site, and it is also available through most major podcast platforms, also on YouTube, and below:

June Podcast Episode

Wed, 25 Jun 2025 20:33:43 GMT

The thirty-fourth episode of Semantic Reactions, the official podcast of the Institute of General Semantics, is now available for your listening pleasure. Our June 2025 podcast features features IGS trustee and past president Martin H. Levinson talking about the recent publication of his latest book, Sensible Thinking 3: The Adventure Continues. In conversation with IGS president Lance Strate, Marty talks about general semantics, learning and education, and the process of writing, as well as topics such as PTSD, antisemitism, politics, and satire.

You can access Episode 34 via our host site, and it is also available through most major podcast platforms, also on YouTube, and below:

Sensible Thinking 3 by Martin H. Levinson Now Available

Mon, 02 Jun 2025 17:45:11 GMT

The IGS is pleased to announce the latest publication in its New Non-Aristotelian Library book series: Sensible Thinking 3: The Adventure Continues by IGS Trustee and Past President Martin H. Levinson. The book is available from all major online booksellers, and via the IGS store in softcover and epub formats.

Sensible Thinking 3: The Adventure Continues is a practical guide rooted in the principles of general semantics that provides tools to help one get effectively through the day. It offers GS techniques for clear thinking, emotional self-management, and analyses of social issues. Its approach is direct and accessible, making complex concepts understandable even to those unfamiliar with general semantics.

The book is structured with standalone chapters, allowing readers to engage with them individually without having prior context. It provides cogent examples to explain abstract ideas such as orders of abstraction, mapping territories, and time-binding, and has chapters with reflections on historical events like particular eras of American disunity and the foundations of the Revolutionary War. There is also discussion of how Alfred Korzybski devised general semantics and a look at contemporary concerns such as post-traumatic stress disorder that incorporates no-nonsense strategies for its resolution. A coda presents a brief history of the Institute of General Semantics.

IGS President Lance Strate on Tristan Harris's podcast Your Undivided Attention

Fri, 07 Mar 2025 22:53:36 GMT

The latest episode of Tristan Harris's podcast Your Undivided Attention from the Center for Humane Technology, featured an interview of IGS President Lance Strate, along with journalist Sean Illing, talking about Neil Postman. The episode is available via most major podcast distributors, and on the Center's website. A video of the discussion is also available via YouTube and below:

IGS President Lance Strate Interviewed on His New IGS Book

Sun, 02 Mar 2025 19:58:19 GMT

IGS President Lance Strate 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 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, and below:

This is Not A Diagram: Applying General Semantics to Contemporary Arts Pedagogy

Fri, 31 Jan 2025 20:50:34 GMT

We are pleased to share that 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, and available to download for free via Open Access agreement. To access the specific chapter, click here.

IGS Trustee & Past President Martin Levinson Quoted in Baron's

Fri, 31 Jan 2025 20:28:31 GMT

We are proud to share that Martin H. Levinson, a trustee and past president of the Institute of General Semantics, and author of the several books published by the IGS, has been quoted in Barron's magazine. To read the article online click here.

IGS Trustee Chris Meyer Interviewed in Edge Magazine

Sat, 30 Nov 2024 19:16:51 GMT

We are proud to share that Chris Meyer, a trustee of the Institute of General Semantics, and author of the 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.

Images from the 2024 Balvant Parekh Memorial Lecture

Wed, 20 Nov 2024 00:49:29 GMT

IGS President Lance Strate recently traveled to India to deliver the 10th annual Balvant Parekh Memorial Lecture hosted by the Balvant Parekh Centre for General Semantics and Other Human Sciences.

The Centre also co-sponsored a talk he delivered at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay upon his arrival in Mumbai on November 9th. The address was entitled, "The Future of Knowledge, and the Fate of Wisdom, in the Age of Information." A version of the lecture was published online by the journal Philosophies as part of a special issue on philosophy and communication technology.

Dr. Strate's Balvant Parekh Memorial Lecture was entitled, "The Message, the Meaning, and the Medium," and was published and distributed by the Centre. The actual lecture was delivered on November 11 at the Balvant Parekh Centre for General Semantics and Other Human Sciences, which is located in the city of Baroda, also known as Vadodara, in the Indian state of Gujarat.

And the following morning, he gave a short talk on "Korzybski's Structural Differential, Plato's Cave, and the Shield of Perseus: Ways of Knowing Our Ways of Knowing," followed by a discussion on his two talks, and on the Institute of General Semantics and its activities, and a lighthearted poetry reading.

We look forward to continued collaboration and cooperation with the Balvant Parekh Memorial Centre, and with other organizations dedicated to general semantics and other human sciences.

IGS Logo Lapel Pin

Mon, 21 Oct 2024 18:10:39 GMT

We are pleased to introduced a brand new lapel pin based on the IGS logo.

Show off your non-aristotelian style with style!

Now on sale exclusively via the IGS store for only $10!

2024 IGS Award Winners

Mon, 23 Sep 2024 19:43:09 GMT

Congratulations to the recipients of the Institute's 2024 prizes and awards!

The Samuel I. Hayakawa Book Prize for the most outstanding work published in the past five years on topics of direct relevance to the discipline of general semantics (the prize includes a cash award of $1,000) to Marcy Axelrod for How We Choose to Show Up: Nature’s Playbook for Creating a Meaningful Life and the World We Want.

The Christine L. Nystrom Prize awarded to a student currently enrolled in a masters or doctoral level graduate program for outstanding scholarship in the form of a paper on the topic of symbols and meaning (the winning entry will be published in the IGS journal, ETC: A Review of General Semantics, and receive a cash prize of $500) to Kristen Haldeman for “Unveiling the MOOC Mosaic: Navigating Self-Paced Learning Landscapes”.

The Sanford I. Berman Award for Excellence in Teaching General Semantics granted to individuals for outstanding use of general semantics formulations in educational settings on any level to Lance Strate in recognition of continuing excellence in teaching general semantics.

The Marjorie Kendig Award for Outstanding Translation to Orli Berger Kadim for her work in translating Martin Levinson's Practical Fairytales from English to Hebrew and Laura Trujillo’s Formal Cause in Marshall McLuhan’s Thinking from Spanish to English.

The J. Talbot Winchell Award to IGS Secretary and Trustee in Eva Berger In Recognition of her Indispensable Contributions, Accomplishments and Time-Binding Efforts in Service to the Field of General Semantics.

Images from Our 2024 Summer Seminar in London

Fri, 09 Aug 2024 18:47:18 GMT

We are pleased to report that our 2024 summer seminar that was held on July 25th to July 27th in London, England, was a smashing success! Taking place in the October Gallery in the Bloomsbury section of town, the seminar was led by Mary P. Lahman, Lance Strate, Dom Heffer, Peggy Cassidy, and Nora Bateson, with twenty participants taking the course. The theme was Navigating the Now: A Guide to Recognizing What is Going On, and the course served as an introduction to general semantics, while also incorporating some innovative topics and exercises. Here now are some photos taken during the 3-day seminar:

The seminar also incorporated a warm data session led by Nora Bateson:

And an art workshop led by Dom Heffer, where participants could get creative in producing their own variations on Alfred Korzybski's Structural Differential:

And we will end this post with the group photo taken at the conclusion of the seminar:

Science and Sanity Session at MEA 2024

Fri, 19 Jul 2024 19:26:12 GMT

As mentioned in a previous post, the IGS sponsored a session at the annual meeting of the Media Ecology Association hosted by Daemon University in Amherst, New York on June 6th to 9th in conjunction with the publication last year of the sixth edition of Alfred Korzybski's magnum opus, Science and Sanity. The program featured IGS Trustees Corey Anton, Susan Drucker, Thom Gencarelli, Lance Strate, and Laura Trujillo-Liñán taking part in a roundtable discussion.

We are pleased to report that this session was recorded on video, and uploaded to YouTube, where you can watch it on the IGS YouTube Channel (and why not subscribe if you haven't done so already?). Or right here:

Images from Our IGS Session at the International Communication Association Meeting

Fri, 19 Jul 2024 18:48:22 GMT

The 2024 meeting of the International Communication Association took place in Gold Coast, Australia. As an affiliate of the ICA, the IGS sponsored a session entitled, "Science and Sanity at 90: Korzybski’s Classic Work Reconsidered," which featured IGS President Lance Strate, IGS Treasurer and ETC Editor Thom Gencarelli, IGS Trustee Laura Trujillo-Liñán, and Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology doctoral candidate Renée Peterson. Here are some images from that session:

While they were visiting Australia, our trustees were able to record an episode of Semantic Reactions, the official podcast of the IGS, at a local radio station in Gold Coast, courtesy of Renée Peterson. Here are some images from that visit:

Videos from This Year's Online Symposium Now Available on YouTube

Tue, 02 Jul 2024 21:57:47 GMT

The video recordings of our online Non-Aristotelian Perspectives, Ecological Approaches, and the Anthropocene 2 Symposium held on April 27, 2024 via Zoom are now available via the IGS YouTube channel. For more information about the symposium, see our event page.

Images from the 2024 MEA Convention

Mon, 01 Jul 2024 22:39:40 GMT

The IGS was well-represented at the recent annual meeting of the Media Ecology Association hosted by Daemon University in Amherst, New York on June 6th to 9th. One of the highlights was the keynote address delivered by IGS Vice-President Corey Anton, "Humanity, Time-Binding, Wealth, and Superabundance":

Another highlight was the roundtable discussion on the new edition of Science and Sanity, featuring Corey Anton, Susan Drucker, Thom Gencarelli, Lance Strate, and Laura Trujillo-Liñán:

Also participating in this year's MEA meeting was former ETC Editor Bill Petkanas:

During the convention, Susan Drucker recorded interviews with Lance Strate and Thom Gencarelli on the history of the Media Ecology Association:

And see also our post: 3 MEA Awards Go To IGS Trustees. We'll leave you now with a few more photos from the event:

To the World Through Languages

Sun, 26 May 2024 19:48:49 GMT

IGS President Lance Strate gave a plenary address entitled, "Representations of Reality: Korzybski's Structural Differential, Plato's Cave, and the Shield of Perseus," via Zoom for the To the World Through Languages conference held in Kyiv, Ukraine, May 16th-17th.

Below are some photos taken at the event, and a thank you note from the organizers:

Some Images from Our Film Screening Event

Sun, 26 May 2024 19:35:21 GMT

Our May 1st in-person event, a film screening of Man on a Mission, was a great success, and well received by all in attendance. Below are some photos from the question and answer session that followed the screening, featuring filmmaker Robert Albrecht (r.) and the subject of the film, Carmine Tabone (l.).

ETC 80:4 (2023) Is Now Available for Download from the IGS Store

Tue, 30 Apr 2024 17:20:45 GMT

The fourth issue of 2023, ETC: A Review of General Semantics Vol. 80 No. 4, is finally in the mail and is now available for download from the IGS Store in searchable PDF format.

Click here to download ETC 80:4 from the IGS Store.

Special Issue: General Semantics and Politics

Guest Editor: Corey Anton

Letter from the Editor

Corey Anton, "Setting the Stage"

Corey Anton, "Politics and General Semantics: Humanity, Time-Binding, Wealth, and Superabundance"

Martin H. Levinson, "General Semantics and Constructive Political Discourse"

Etai Eshet and Eva Berger, "Hashtag this: #FreePalestine, Political Positions, and Social Media Trends"

Jermaine Martinez, "Korzybski and Chantal Mouffe: General Semantics Contribution to Agonism"

Joshua Clements, "An Ounce of Prevention: General Semantics and Conspiracy Theories"

Thomas A. Fish, "Excerpt from Press Conference with Government Official"

Roy F. Fox, "Music, 'Jokes,' and Race

Book Reviews"; Martin H. Levinson, Book Reviews

ETC 80:3 (2023) Is Now Available for Download from the IGS Store

Tue, 02 Jan 2024 22:11:40 GMT

The third issue of 2023, ETC: A Review of General Semantics Vol. 80 No. 3, is in the mail and is now available for download from the IGS Store in searchable PDF format.

Click here to download ETC 80:3 from the IGS Store.

Letter from the Editor

Christopher W. Mayer, "The Truth Is Not Out There: Korzybskian Themes in the Work of Richard Rorty"

Lance Strate, "The And"

Tiffany Petricini, "ChatGPT: Everything to Everyone all at Once"

Stephen Roxborough, "years ago (in galaxies far far away)"

Martin H. Levinson, "Dating Antisemitism: A Case Study"

Milton Dawes, "A Few Words About my Use of “Meta”"

John Rullo. "Artificial Love"

Eleni Chatzi, "The Buried History Within the Buried History"

Xristos Xousos, "The Crystal Gazer"

Martin H. Levinson, "Dating America’s Response to Alcohol: An Historical Overview"

Heather M. Crandall, "Civil Communication"

Jack Conley, Estafania Orjuela Parre, and Ashwin Vaidya, "A Semantic Guide for the Climate Perplexed"

David Miller, "Blend (for Sandy Bull)"

Joseph N. Agostino. "Institutionalization and Family Relationships of the Elderly"

Stan Kozikowski, "Othello’s Semantics of Body, Mind and Soul: America’s Racist Presidents, Devalued Higher Education, and Debased Priesthood"

Mary Lahman, "Practice Language Behaviors that Engage Others in Civil Discourse"

Josh Dold and Mary Lahman, "Action Plan: Non-Identity"

Wendy Mushenye and Mary Lahman, "Action Plan: Non-Identity"

Mary Lahman, "Moving Action Plans to Case Studies"

Samantha Campbell and Mary Lahman, "Traffic Stop Miscommunication: A Case Study"

Hope Gebhart, Adrianna Shires, and Mary Lahman, "A 'Free' Lesson in General Semantics"

Martin H. Levinson, Book Reviews

6th Edition of Science & Sanity in 3 Formats Now On Sale

Wed, 22 Nov 2023 20:34:38 GMT

We are pleased to announce that a new edition of Alfred Korzybski's magnum opus, Science and Sanity: An Introduction to Non-Aristotelian Systems and General Semantics is now available for sale in three different formats.

The Sixth Edition includes revised illustrations and index, and a new preface by IGS President Lance Strate, and is available in the traditional hardcover format with attractive book jacket, and for the first time in paperback and searchable ebook versions.

This new edition of Science and Sanity, the first new edition in 30 years, marks the 90th anniversary of the original publication of Alfred Korzybski’s magnum opus. As a nonagenarian work, I think it reasonable to characterize this book as a classic. By this, I mean to place it in a category with the great works of the past, our common human heritage, the intellectual manifestation of our unique capacity for time-binding, to use Korzybski’s evocative neologism. Categorizing Science and Sanity as a classic speaks not only to its historical significance, but also to the overall quality of the work and its ongoing relevance. Undeniably, much has changed in the world since the ink dried on the first edition in 1933... And yet, much remains the same when it comes to the difficulties we encounter due to our abuse and misuse of language and symbols, the problems we grapple with due to our assumptions and presumptions about the accuracy of our perceptions and preconceptions, the conflicts and struggles we face due to our ignorance and disregard of map-territory relationships, and our tendency to equate the two. No wonder, then, that interest in this general semantics urtext persists, demand continues unabated, and passionate debate over its merits, and its flaws, has not diminished.

⏤from the Preface to the 6th Edition by Lance Strate

In addition to being available for purchase from most major online booksellers, copies of Science and Sanity (6e) can be purchased through the IGS online bookstore. IGS members can request a discount coupon good for 15% off of all of our books and products.

A.Eye Candy by Corey Anton Now Available

Sat, 14 Oct 2023 20:25:47 GMT

The newest publication in our Language in Action book series is now out: A.Eye Candy: A Museum of Imaginary Robots and Other Digital Delights by Corey Anton.

Sure to dazzle your senses and inspire your imagination, A.EYE CANDY presents some deliciously bizarre, intriguing and weird images. It includes a variety of different robots, robots that are creating art, strange and odd imaginary creatures, and abstract "art-like" images. This lovely collection will keep you coming back again and again with an increased delight in every viewing. For anyone interested in imaginary robots, robot artists, surreal animals, abstract art, and/or the generative AI revolution, this "must have" coffee table book offers an absolute treasure trove.

"In this lively book, Corey Anton reminds us that AI can be productively employed to stimulate the imagination. The sophisticated, often goofy (often both) characters are funny, tragic, creative and unique. The 'Imaginary art exhibition' contains kaleidoscopic images which resist definition in the same way that great artworks resist definition. Whether you approach this book as a collection of artworks, or a compendium of AI imagery - A.EYE Candy is an entertaining exploration of the modern hybrid imagination."

⏤Dom Heffer, Artist (UK)

"In his uniquely brilliant way, Corey Anton has crafted A.EYE Candy to advance both wisdom about the explosion of generative AI and inspiration for its use. By thoughtfully and expertly exploring the potential of AI as its own artistic medium, Anton has brought forth emotionally evocative and appealing imagery, inviting us all to suspend judgment of AI's capabilities and partake in intriguing new ways of creating, seeing and knowing."

⏤Julianne Newton, Professor of Visual Communication & Director of the Communication and Media Studies Doctoral Program, University of Oregon

"Prepare to go fishing with Corey Anton. In his introduction, Anton advances fishing as a helpful metaphor for the process of tweaking and refining the prompts that reeled in all the gorgeous AI-generated images in this book. And what a museum they comprise: a potent cocktail of whimsy and nightmare fuel. You'll see robots, robot artists, a bestiary beyond human imagining, and abstract spaces where forms struggle to assert themselves. Is it art? With a general semanticist's distrust of the copula of identity, Anton unasks that question, choosing to foreground human intent, which was "to generate images that are aesthetically pleasing." Whether you're gazing in wonder at Escher-y scenes, considering an armadillo-tardigrade chimera or puzzling out the Bosch-like forms slithering through less figurative pieces, you're sure to find something that challenges your perceptions in interesting ways. So grab the chum bucket and get ready to experience the rapture of the deep."

⏤John McDaid, Adjunct Professor, Roger Williams University

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgements

Welcome to the Museum

Exhibit One: A Range of Robots

Exhibit Two: Robot Artists

Exhibit Three: Fantastical Animals

Exhibit Four: Imaginary Art Installation

Appendix A: Eye Gari

To order A.Eye Candy form the IGS store, click here.

ETC 80:2 (2023) Is Now Available for Download from the IGS Store

Sun, 01 Oct 2023 20:15:31 GMT

The second issue of 2023, ETC: A Review of General Semantics Vol. 80 No. 2, is in the mail and is now available for download from the IGS Store in searchable PDF format.

Click here to download ETC 80:2 from the IGS Store.

Letter from the Editor

Corey Anton, "A Dialogue with ChatGPT about Nonidentity: A Demonstration of a Range of Basic AI Capabilities"

Maria Polski & Olga Hazanova, "Introduction to the Work of Yuri Rozhdestvensky"Menippean Satire"

Alexandre Lobodanov, "Types of Communication in Semiotic Systems"

Natalia Guermanova, "Yuri Rozhdestvensky on Patterns of Cultural Evolution, Language Standardization, and Media Ecology"

Olga E. Hazanova, "Yuri Rozhdestvensky on Speech Media in the Light of his Philosophy of Language and Culture, and in Dialogue with Marshall McLuhan"

Anna A. Novikova, "Transmedia Storytelling in Education as a Practice of Media Ecology"

Liudmila Salieva, "New Media Environment, Challenges of Modern Education, and the Old Art of Rhetoric"; Dale Winslow, "Salutation and Soft Deception"

Peter Zhang, Richard John Lynn & Chen Bing, "Jiucai (Chinese Chives) Song"

Jane Blanchard, "Early August"Other Poems":

Jane Blanchard, "Bird Feeder"

Carmine Giordano, "Ding An Sich"

Richard Fiordo, "Words and Things"

Julian Costa, "Ode to a Star"

Martin H. Levinson, Book Reviews

Videos from our Online Symposium Now Available on YouTube

Thu, 03 Aug 2023 22:02:26 GMT

The video recordings of our online Ecologies of Mind, Media, and Meaning 2 Symposium held on April 29, 2023 via Zoom are now available via the IGS YouTube channel. For more information about the symposium, see our event page.

ETC 80:1 (2023) Is Now Available for Download from the IGS Store

Fri, 07 Jul 2023 17:40:24 GMT

The first issue of 2023, ETC: A Review of General Semantics Vol. 80 No. 1, is in the mail and is now available for download from the IGS Store in searchable PDF format.

Click here to download ETC 80:1 from the IGS Store.

Letter from the Editor

David Sobelman, "Addendum to Prof on First"

Thomas J. Farrell, "Walter Ong, Marshall McLuhan, and Eric McLuhan’s Two Books on Menippean Satire"

Lance Strate, "The Issue of Is: A Commentary on the
Case against the Verb 'To Be'"

Devkumar Trivedi, "To Know or Not to Know to Be-Lieve or Not to Be-Lieve [That Is the Question]"

Diane Cypkin, "The Prophet Ignored: Vladimir Ze’ev Jabotinsky and the Coming of the Holocaust"

Martin H. Levinson, "What the Fuck: Examining an “Obscene” Term"

Gina Valenti, "Art as a Counter-Environment during Lockdown"

Stan Kozikowski, "The Unread and Unknown Beowulf, Monstrous Evil, Ephesians VI 11–15, Psychomachia, and Negligible Tolkien: Revisiting with General Textual Semantics"

Martin H. Levinson and Katherine Liepe-Levinson, "Selections from Signal Reactions and Other Poems":

Katherine-Liepe Levinson, "Happier Than Me,

Martin H. Levinson, "Is Everybody Happy?"

Katherine Liepe-Levinson, "From All Over"

Martin H. Levinson, "Labels"

Katherine Liepe-Levinson, "Virtually Speaking"

Martin H. Levinson, "Where It’s @"

Katherine Liepe-Levinson, "Warm Waters"

Martin H. Levinson, "Every Day is Earth Day"

Katherine Liepe-Levinson, "Levels of Abstraction"

Martin H. Levinson, "Ode to the Structural Differential"

Xristos Xousos, "Nothing in the Universe"

Xristos Xousos, "Ananda"

Andrew McLuhan, "Five Bloody Cannons"

Dale Winslow, "Transition Breathes above Desire"

Aaron R. Boyson, "Paper Cuts"

Martin H. Levinson, Book Reviews

Images from Our IGS Session at the ICA Conference in Toronto

Fri, 09 Jun 2023 19:45:50 GMT

The IGS sponsored a program session at the annual International Communication Association conference in Toronto, May 26th-29th, in Toronto. The program, entitled What Makes Politic Talk, or, Is It Time’s Up for the Democratic Experiment: General Semantics Perspectives, was chaired by IGS Trustee Laura Trujillo-Liñán, and featured addresses by IGS officers Thom Gencarelli, on "Media Bias, Two-Party Politics, and the Two-Valued Orientation: Why the U.S. Finds Itself on the Edge of a Second Civil War," and Lance Strate, on "The Double Bind of Rational Political Discourse".

Trujillo-Liñán, Gencarelli, and Strate also participated in a session sponsored by the Media Ecology Association.

Images from Our April 25th Screening of The Frontier Gandhi

Sun, 30 Apr 2023 17:31:06 GMT

Filmmaker TC McLuhan answers questions and gives away signed copies of her movie posters following the April 25th screening of her documentary, The Frontier Gandhi, at the Players in New York City. IGS President Lance Strate serves as moderator.

Film Screening: The Frontier Gandhi 4/25 NYC

Wed, 08 Mar 2023 18:33:57 GMT

The Institute of General Semantics

and the

New York Society for General Semantics

are Proud to Present a Screening of

The Frontier Gandhi:

Badshah Khan, A Torch for Peace

A Film by TC McLuhan

Tuesday, April 25th, 2023

The screening will be free and open to the public, but registration is required.

Filmmaker, author, and IGS Fellow TC (Teri) McLuhan will be present to introduce and answer questions about the documentary.

For more information and to register, click here.

Double Issue ETC 79:3-4 (2022) Is Now Available for Download from the IGS Store

Sun, 05 Feb 2023 18:23:26 GMT

Our long-awaited double issue 79:3-4 (2022) of ETC: A Review of General Semantics is in the mail and is now available for download from the IGS Store in searchable PDF format.

Click here to download ETC 79:3-4 from the IGS Store.

Table of Contents Preview

Letter from the Editor

Lance Strate, Introduction to Special Issue on Manhood of Humanity

Martin H. Levinson, Manhood of Humanity Revisited

Bini B. S., The Time-Binding Class of Life: Making Sense of Human Beings and Their Epistemic-Cognitive-Performative Faculties

Sanjay Mukherjee, Tallying (with) Korzybski;

David Hewson, Review of Manhood of Humanity

Tonisha Guin, The Subject of Knowledge: Reading Manhood of Humanity as an Identity Project

Lance Strate, Science, Progress, and Korzybski’s Progressive Vision

Rakesh Desai, The Civil and the Evil: Korzybski’s Manhood of Humanity

Thom Gencarelli, Time-Binding and Art/Time-Binding in Art

Henna B. Muliyana, Evaluating If This Is a Man by Primo Levi Through Time-Binding

Prashant Chauhan, Effective? Time-Binding—A Revisit

Pratiksha N. Chavada, “Nurturing the Nature”: Re-Evaluation of Select Novels of Dhruv Bhatt through Time-Binding

Deesha Lathigara, Binding Time through Folktales

Devyani Chauhan. A, Dharmaraja Yudhisthira as a Failed Time-Binder as Well as a Wrong Evaluator

Double Issue ETC 79:1-2 (2022) Is Now Available for Download from the IGS Store

Fri, 30 Dec 2022 18:17:44 GMT

Our long-awaited double issue 79:1-2 (2022) of ETC: A Review of General Semantics is in the mail and is now available for download from the IGS Store in searchable PDF format.

Click here to download ETC 79:1-2 from the IGS Store.

Table of Contents Preview

Letter from the Editor

Postman’s Legacy in a “Post-Truth” Landscape of Algorithmic Propaganda - Renee Hobbs

Between a Korzybskian Non-Allness and Mcluhan Allatonceness: The Rebirth of Irony in a Post-COVID-19 Epoch - Adeena Karasick

Respecting the Territory: Self-determined and Relational Technology in Indigenous Language Revitalization - Paul J. Meighan

Labeling in a Politically Correct Environment: A Study of Three Articles in ETC - Robert Barry Francos

Media Evolution—the Evolution of What? Thoughts on the Margins of Paul Levinson’s Human Replay (2017 [1978]) - Andrey Mir

An Open Letter to Vladimir Putin - Milton Dawes

Kenneth Burke, Neil Postman, and Grandma - Joshua Clements

Interdisciplinary Possibilities of General Semantics - Maria Polski

José Saramago’s Cain: Rewriting a Fallen Hero’s Journey through Time - Jyotsna Mayadas

Consumer Adoption of Virtual Reality Technologies - Agon Shehu

Hamlet Unread, America Lost, Language Unwritten, Earth Diminished: The Restorative Work and Worth of General Textual Semantics - Stan Kozikowski

Interstellar and the Beauty in Science - Elizabeth Jerse

Starship Troopers: Making Fascism Sexy Again - Michael Leifer

The Soul of America - Amy Malburg

Zen Buddhism and General Semantics - Em Hodgson

Situations of a Certain Type and Phone-tapping 101: A General Semantics Critique of Lloyd Bitzer’s “The Rhetorical Situation” - Tim Lyons

Distal Shift: A Spatial Consequence of Discrimination Learning - Joseph N. Agostino

A Quick Look at the Bathrooms of Belgium, the Netherlands and France - Suzanne G. Beyer

The Liar - Xristos Xousos; Nothing in the Universe - Xristos Xousos

Premises - Jane Blanchard

Season’s Greetings - Jane Blanchard

Dear Grandma - David Linton

New IGS Publication: Concerning Communication by Lance Strate

Thu, 15 Dec 2022 18:09:10 GMT

Concerning Communication: Epic Quests and Lyrical Excursions Within the Human Lifeworld by Lance Strate

Published by the Institute of General Semantics

December 1, 2022

ISBN: 978-1-970164-20-6 (Print) 978-1-970164-21-3 (eBook)

Concerning Communication: Epic Quests and Lyrical Excursions Within the Human Lifeworld is a collection of essays that range across a variety of topics, including models of communication, language and symbolic communication, sense perception, the self, disability and autism, listening, reading, science, media literacy, ethics, innovation, systems theory, information, communication history, isolation, solipsism, technology, education, media ecology, and general semantics. Lance Strate’s unifying theme throughout this volume is the centrality of communication, as a phenomenon, to human life, and the importance of communication, as a field of study, to understanding ourselves and our place in the universe.

Expansive and engagingly written, Lance Strate’s Concerning Communication: Epic Quests and Lyric Excursions Within the Human Lifeworld is a nuanced and profound collection of essays that gets to the heart of what it means to communicate and why it matters. Whether a student or scholar of education, this multi-faceted book is a must-have for anyone wishing to know more about the many ways communication permeates and shapes our lived experience.—Allison Peiritsch, Associate Professor, Slippery Rock University

Concerning Communication contains a swath of knowledge as big as the Serengeti. This huge and potentially confusing topic has a nonpareil guide to show you the hidden thickets of fact and the swamps of fiction and error in your search to understand communication. Your author and guide, Lance Strate, is an internationally acknowledged scholar of human communication and a philosophy of communication mensch. Chapter by chapter, essay by essay, you will be congenially accompanying Strate in his continuing effort to clarify the facts and fancies, the underlying assumptions, and the presumptions of that which provides all of us the ability to know, make and sustain contact with others. Winter is coming so get a bowl of good warm soup, a comfortable chair, and start reading.—Frank E.X. Dance, Distinguished University Professor Emeritus, University of Denver

A wide-ranging set of essays with wide-ranging implications. Thought provoking on multiple levels. —Dale Cyphert, Head, Department of Marketing and Entrepreneurship, University of Northern Iowa

As we struggle to respond to the rapid changes in our world, it is imperative that we find ways to create meaning out of the overwhelming amounts of information that inundate our lives. Concerning Communication provides both form and substance to engage the reader in spirit and mind. Through the weaving of theory, history and narrative, Dr. Strate elucidates how communication is artifact and process, listening and language, both-and rather than either-or. In doing so, readers understand how they can be the authors of their stories and bring meaning to our world.—Paaige Turner, Dean, College of Communication, Information, and Media, Ball State University

2022 S.I. Hayakawa Book Prize Goes to Christine Nystrom's The Genes of Culture: Towards a Theory of Symbols, Media, and Meaning

Mon, 24 Oct 2022 18:48:29 GMT

The Trustees of the Institute of General Semantics

Proudly Present

The 2021 Samuel I. Hayakawa Book Prize to

Carolyn Wiebe and Susan Maushart (Eds.)

for

The Genes of Culture:

Towards a Theory of Symbols, Meaning and Media

Volumes One and Two

By Christine L. Nystrom

Christine L. Nystrom’s provocative work offers up a fresh approach to ongoing—and increasingly urgent—questions about the role of symbols and technology in shaping human experience. In lucid, lively, and always-accessible prose, she examines an eclectic range of topics—from Hopi grammar to the etiquette of beach-going to the primal allure of the horror film—to uncover the principles that structure the way we make meaning of our world. A cross-disciplinary tour de force, The Genes of Culture integrates insights from philosophy, the physical sciences, social psychology, and cultural criticism to pose challenging questions for today’s students of media. This book is an exemplary foundation reader for graduates or undergraduates in communication and media studies.

Volume 2 of The Genes of Culture continues Christine Nystrom’s exploration into the ecology of symbol systems and the evolution of media, mind and culture. Part One, Human Symbolic Evolution, delivers nothing less than a grand unified theory of humankind. For Nystrom, the prehistoric creative explosion that gave rise to language—a metaphorical Big Bang—explains our species’ survival. A felicitous if somewhat ignoble story, it begins with "The Incompetent Ape" who would never have made the evolutionary cut without developing the social capabilities made possible through symbolic language. And human communication, an inevitable source of problems, is the driving force behind this most peculiar of adventures: the birth of self-consciousness, tools and technologies, pratfalls of memory, awareness of our own mortality, art, knowledge, civilization, discontent, and so on. And so on, that is, if we don’t bring our story to an end. In Part Two, a series of astute and provokingly prescient lectures, Tales, Tools, Technopoly, Nystrom addresses our social and moral responsibility in cultivating the narrative of our future. Straightforward and ruthlessly critical of contemporary notions of "growth" and "progress," it concludes this volume with an alternative that is also a challenge -- an appeal to our better nature to do right by our species and the planet. A seminal text for students of media and communication, The Genes of Culture, Vol. 2 is at once readable and profound, comprehensive in its erudition and bold in its conclusions. In the spirit of Media Ecology, it invites argument, and merits acclaim.

First given in 2009, the Institute of General Semantics awards the S. I. Hayakawa Book Prize to the most outstanding work published in the past five years on topics of direct relevance to the discipline of general semantics. The prize includes a cash award of $1,000.

For a list of past winners of the Hayakawa Prize, click here.

New IGS Publication: Formal Cause in Marshall McLuhan's Thinking: An Aristotelian Perspective by Laura Trujillo Liñán

Mon, 24 Oct 2022 18:38:35 GMT

New from our New Non-Aristotelian Library Series:

Formal Cause in Marshall McLuhan's Thinking: An Aristotelian Perspective by Laura Trujillo Liñán; Foreword by Lance Strate

The concept of formal cause was originated by the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle, in his treatise on metaphysics, later elaborated upon by the medieval philosopher Thomas Aquinas, and more recently claimed by the modern media philosopher Marshall McLuhan. Introduced as one of four types of causality, alongside that of material cause, efficient cause, and final cause, McLuhan adopted formal causality in an effort to explain the effects of media and technology. This study reviews, compares, and contrasts Aristotle’s and McLuhan’s understanding of formal cause in relation to contemporary media theory, non-aristotelian systems, and the field of media ecology.

Ever since we thought to think about it, causality has been a slippery beast to grapple with. To make it easier to grasp, we often revert to the more convenient, if simplistic, terms of 'cause and effect,' dismissing out of hand what doesn't easily fit there, or assigning the magical, fantastic, or mysterious as agents beyond our human understanding. Against this impulse, Laura Trujillo Liñán has waded into often-murky waters, and in an admirable attempt to discover clarity, employed considerable skill and effort, and enlisted the assistance of Aristotle and McLuhan to her task. Liñán's book is an important contribution toward forming a more complete map of the challenging terrain that is formal causality.
Andrew McLuhan, Director, The McLuhan Institute

How do we understand the complex relationships between media and their effects With this book, Laura Trujillo Liñán adds to a growing body of work attempting to tackle this persistent question. Using lessons drawn from Aristotle and McLuhan, she offers an application of Aristotle’s four causes that sheds new light upon—and raises new questions about—McLuhan’s challenging slogan, “the medium is the message.” The book thus helps to advance discussion of important philosophical questions about speech, written language, and contemporary media.
Gerald Erion, Professor of Philosophy, Medaille College

Laura Trujillo Liñán’s brilliant study explores formal cause as a key concept informing McLuhan’s belief that media transform individuals and society and that it is possible to understand and control such changes by studying and even exposing often-hidden effects. Her study also roots McLuhan’s perspective in Aristotelian, Thomist, and general semantics theory. Because Trujillo Liñán treats abstract concepts with linguistic clarity and foundational grounding, her book will be a valuable text for students of media. At the same time, by tracing time-based connections and philosophical traditions, she also reveals connections poised to enrich the work of more senior scholars.
Jaqueline McLeod Rogers, Professor and Chair, Department Writing, Rhetoric, and Communications, University of Winnipeg

There is so much to recommend in this book that I scarcely know where to begin. Suffice it to say that by conducting a comparative analysis of Aristotle, Korzybski, and McLuhan, and by applying an Aristotelian perspective to the notion of formal cause in Marshall McLuhan’s thinking, the book’s author, Professor Laura Trujillo Liñán, has made a significant contribution to the fields of philosophy, general semantics, and media ecology. Highly recommended.
Martin H. Levinson, Trustee and Past President, Institute of General Semantics

Available from most online booksellers or click here to purchase via the IGS bookstore

New IGS Publication: Dear Fellow Time-Binder: Letters on General Semantics by Christopher Mayer

Mon, 24 Oct 2022 18:32:29 GMT

New from our New Non-Aristotelian Library Series:

Dear Fellow Time-Binder: Letters on General Semantics by Christopher Mayer

This is a series of short summaries and brief overviews of many main ideas within general semantics, all couched in the style of personal letters. It is designed to give people an intimate view into many insights offered with general semantics, and just as equally, it represents how principles of general semantics can be applied within everyday life.

Available from most online booksellers or click here to purchase via the IGS bookstore

New IGS Publication: Massaging the Medium: Seven Pechakuchas by Adeena Karasick

Mon, 24 Oct 2022 18:18:30 GMT

The latest publication in our Language in Action series devoted to poetry and creative writing:

Massaging the Medium: Seven Pechakuchas by Adeena Karasick

In the alternate universe where Roland Barthes was a TikTok star and Marshall McLuhan an Instagram Inluencer cloned with a generation of super-whiz critical-wise-cracking kids to produce super-hip trend-smart media brand collage-critique they might have approached the extra-orbital velocity of Adeena Karasick’s high-powered cultural insights. The sheer scale of her inventory of references is enough to overwhelm the synapses and explode the constellationary possibilities of trying to process the world we live in. We, not the medium, are what is being massaged, manipulated, and mangled—and Karasick artfully exposes these many machinations while keeping her cool voice and ludic edge.

Mordantly clever these compressed works are full of edge and insight. Up-to-date and totally timely, the dense fields of text-image resonate with current associations and indexical trails of the familiar frames according to which we mediate the culturally produced encounters with our daily lives. Accurate and terrifying, lively and vivid, Adeena Karasick’s format manages its hybrid pata-para-pechakucha parametrics with dizzying and dazzling energy and skill. In other words—WOW.

—Johanna Drucker, author of The General Theory of Social Relativity,
Downdrift, Iliazd: Metabiography of a Modernist and the forthcoming Inventing the Alphabet

Massaging the Medium is a fascinating, sensory media-mix... [where] you can hear Karasick’s voice and feel the rhythm of her reading—about technology and the senses, culture, communication, and imagination, Postman and Korzybski, the Golem, the body, language, talk, and truth. This is is a book you can dance to.

—Eva Berger, Secretary of the Institute of General Semantics, author of The Communication Panacea, and Context Blindness: Digital Technology and the Next Stage of Human Evolution

Language juggler Adeena Karasick did it again. By letting images speak, she crammed an unjammable aural experience in less than 200 pages. An absolute Mcluhanesque pastiche that seizes the allatonceness of our memetic culture. A book to read with your ears.

Paolo Granata, University of Toronto, author of The Medium: A Marshall McLuhan Board Game

Available from most online booksellers or click here to purchase via the IGS bookstore

Double Issue ETC 78:3-4 (2021) Is Now Available for Download from the IGS Store

Mon, 24 Oct 2022 18:09:05 GMT

Our long-awaited double issue 78:3-4 (2021) of ETC: A Review of General Semantics is in the mail and is now available for download from the IGS Store in searchable PDF format.

Click here to download ETC 78:3-4 from the IGS Store.

Table of Contents Preview

"Letter from the Editor"

" In Memoriam: Paul Dennithorne Johnston" by Charles G. Russell

"Remembrance: Paul Johnston" by Martin H. Levinson

"Cultivating Metacognition: Exploring Relations Between Literacy and Modes of Thinking" by Corey Anton

"Excerpts from Dear Fellow Time-Binder: Letters on General Semantics" by
Chris Mayer

"My Lambda Pi Eta Lecture" by Lance Strate

"Indexing American Overthrows of Foreign Governments by Martin H. Levinson"

"Prof on First" by David Sobelman

"How I Became an Ecologist" by Rex Weyler

"Grandpa McCoy’s Three Questions: Mapping Our way Across the Digital Divide" by Robert Albrecht

"Critical Moral Thinking: Some Stars to Steer By" by Jeffrey Scheuer

"A Dialogue on Language" by Peter Zhang and Robert Smit

"There’s Only 1 Train: All Aboard the Cosmopolitan Canopy from 242nd St. to South Ferry" by Deirdre Heavey

"Closure and Flexibility of Closure as it Relates to Perception and Inductive Reasoning" by Joseph N. Agostino

"Closure in Perception: An Overview" by Joseph N. Agostino

General Semantics Actions Plans:

"Action Plan: Non-Allness" by Jora Barnes and Mary Lahman;

"Action Plan: Self-Reflexiveness" by Kaleigh Gabriel and Mary Lahman

Moving Action Plans to Case Studies

"Action Plan: Self-Reflexiveness by Erin Hickle and Mary Lahman

"The Social Media Debate: How Might Quotes, Hyphens, and En-Dashes Help Us Reach New Understanding" by Erin Hickle, Marissa Carr, and Mary Lahman

Poems:

"Enantiodromia" by Xristos Xousos

"The Virtual Feast" by David Linton

"Self" by NonistJohn Case Schaeffer

Book Reviews, Martin H. Levinson, Book Review Editor:

Shariatmadari, David. Don’t Believe a Word: The Surprising Truth About Language. New York: Norton, 2019.

Double Issue ETC 78:1-2 (2021) Is Now Available for Download from the IGS Store

Tue, 01 Feb 2022 20:34:52 GMT

Our long-awaited and eighth double issue 78:1-2 (2021) of ETC: A Review of General Semantics is in the mail and is now available for download from the IGS Store in searchable PDF format.

Click here to download ETC 78:1-2 from the IGS Store.

Table of Contents Preview

“Conscious of Abstraction” by Dom Heffer

“General Semantics and All That Jazz” by Geof Bradfield/Ben Goldberg/Dana Hall Trio, and Anne Philips, with Thom Gencarelli, Lance Strate, and Ed Tywoniak

“Excerpts from Dear Fellow Time-Binder: Letters on General Semantics” by Chris Mayer

“‘I Hear You!’: Comments on the Sound Practice of Listening” by Lance Strate

“Anticipatory Anxiety” by Milton Dawes

“Interpersonal Time: A Neglected Dimension” by Joseph A. Devito

“Are We What We Think We Are Not?” by Vijay Rangachari

“The Art of Clear Thinking” by Martin H. Levinson

“Dating American Disunity” by Martin H. Levinson

“Dating Western Poetry” by Martin H. Levinson

“Just for the Habitat: A Fanciful Tale on the Birth of General Semantics” by Martin H. Levinson

“Waiting for the Squeeze to ‘Squooze’: Wallstreetbets and General Semantics” by Michael Quinn

“A Prophet Sowing Golden Words: A Semantic Parable with a Happy Ending” by Richard Fiordo

“September 11, 2001: Recollections of a New York City Police Officer” by Suzanne G. Beyer

“The Wrought Iron Fence: Another Layer of History” by Suzanne G. Beyer

“Ises Don’t, and Nouns Are Not” by NonistJohn Schaeffer

“The Real-Time Blues” by NonistJohn Schaeffer

“General Semantics ‘Action Plans’” by Mary Lahman

“Action Plan: Self-Reflexiveness” by Erin Hickle, Marissa Carr, and Mary Lahman

Plus Letter from the Editor.

Cover Art

On the Cover: Anthony Housman - Still Life (Half Dish). 2008. Acrylic on canvas. 25cm x 35cm.

Newly Expanded Audio Collection: The 1948 Summer Seminar-Workshop, Featuring More Alfred Korzybski and Irving J. Lee Lectures, Douglas Kelley, Irving, J. Lee, Harry Holtzman, and More

Tue, 28 Dec 2021 20:55:50 GMT

In 1948, the Institute of General Semantics hosted a Summer Seminar-Workshop at Millbrook School in New York. In 2020, IGS released over 15 hours of digitized audio recordings from that course.

After uncovering more audio recordings from the course, including several lectures by Alfred Korzybski and additional lecturing by Irving J. Lee, today IGS announces the release of "version 2.0" for the audio collection. This newly expanded collection contains 37 additional audio files, totaling around 24 hours of audio from the 1948 Summer Seminar-Workshop. This expanded collection is now available for listening and download from the IGS Store.

The recordings reflect a wide range of speakers, general semantics lessons, and teacher-student interactions. They were digitized and enhanced in 2020-2021 from reels rescued from the Institute of General Semantics archives.

Included with the MP3 album of 62 audio files is the Listener's Guide for IGS 1948 Summer Seminar-Workshop by Ben Hauck, which meticulously brings together archival information about the course -- from its planning to names of those in attendance, and more.

In addition to Alfred Korzybski lecturing on a wide range of topics in the seminar portion of the retreat, and introducing Douglas Kelley at a point, the following general semantics lecturers speak in the recordings on these subjects and others:

Stuart Chase - House on Un-American Activities
William Exton, Jr. - Audio-Visual Aids, Maps, Non-Verbal Symbols
Harry Holtzman - Visual Art; Abstract Art
Douglas Kelley - Work of Adelbert Ames, Jr., Psychiatry, Structure, Function of the Human Nervous System, Conditioned Reflexes; On Magic; Prejudice, and Question & Answer Session
M. Kendig - Introduction to Allen Walker Read; Neuro-Linguistic, Neuro-Semantic Environments on Teaching and Writing General Semantics
Irving J. Lee - Statements of Fact, Inferencing; Question & Answer Session
Allen Walker Read - Semantic Guide
Sam Rosen - Using General Semantics in Medical Situations

Approximate Running Time: ~24 hours

These audio recordings and listener's guide complement the motion picture produced during the 1948 course:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qep9ppZ0oK0

This audio collection is available as a downloadable ZIP file including 62 MP3 audio files and a listener's guide PDF with photographs.

NOTE: The ZIP file is 270MB, a large file. You have 4 days from the moment of purchase to complete the download, and 4 attempts to succeed. Only order when you have enough time to download the file to a computer or external hard drive with enough space. To open the ZIP, you may need to extract the contents of the ZIP file with additional free software.

Newly Expanded Audio Collection: The 1948 Summer Seminar-Workshop, Featuring More Alfred Korzybski and Irving J. Lee Lectures, Douglas Kelley, Irving, J. Lee, Harry Holtzman, and More

Tue, 28 Dec 2021 20:35:48 GMT

In 1948, the Institute of General Semantics hosted a Summer Seminar-Workshop at Millbrook School in New York. In 2020, IGS released over 15 hours of digitized audio recordings from that course.

Stuart Chase - House on Un-American Activities
William Exton, Jr. - Audio-Visual Aids, Maps, Non-Verbal Symbols
Harry Holtzman - Visual Art; Abstract Art
Douglas Kelley - Work of Adelbert Ames, Jr., Psychiatry, Structure, Function of the Human Nervous System, Conditioned Reflexes; On Magic; Prejudice, and Question & Answer Session
M. Kendig - Introduction to Allen Walker Read; Neuro-Linguistic, Neuro-Semantic Environments on Teaching and Writing General Semantics
Irving J. Lee - Statements of Fact, Inferencing; Question & Answer Session
Allen Walker Read - Semantic Guide
Sam Rosen - Using General Semantics in Medical Situations

Approximate Running Time: ~24 hours

These audio recordings and listener's guide complement the motion picture produced during the 1948 course:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qep9ppZ0oK0

This audio collection is available as a downloadable ZIP file including 62 MP3 audio files and a listener's guide PDF with photographs.

Trustee Dom Heffer on Alfred Korzybski in the Hilaritas Podcast

Wed, 22 Dec 2021 20:51:14 GMT

In the first episode of the Hilaritas Press Podcast, Institute of General Semantics trustee Dom Heffer speaks in depth about Alfred Korzybski.

The podcast focuses on people who "influenced and inspired Robert Anton Wilson," and Korzybski is among those who influenced Wilson.

Click here to listen to the podcast and find it on podcast apps »

Videos from the 69th AKML & Two-Day General Semantics Symposium

Tue, 21 Dec 2021 20:50:01 GMT

To the IGS YouTube account, we have added a curated set videos of presentations from the 69th Alfred Korzybski Memorial Lecture and its subsequent Two-Day General Semantics Symposium, sponsored by the Institute of General Semantics, and co-sponsored by the Media Ecology Association and the New York Society for General Semantics.

The entire event was held at the Players Club in New York City, October 1-3, 2021.

The videos are compiled into a sequential playlist that mirrors the sequence of events from the weekend.

Watch individual entries from the playlist »

New Book - "Signal Reactions and Other Poems" by Martin H. Levinson, with Photography by Katherine Liepe-Levinson

Fri, 20 Aug 2021 19:49:23 GMT

The Institute of General Semantics is pleased to announce the publication of Signal Reactions and Other Poems, an illustrated collection of verse by Martin H. Levinson, with photography by Katherine Liepe-Levinson.

About the Book

The title of this book, Signal Reactions, refers to a general semantics (GS) term signifying an instant, unthinking, subjective response to a person, place, thing, or event. These responses rarely work out well but they are so instinctive it is hard to resist them. Delaying our reactions gives us time to think about what is going on in situations, which can help us to respond more effectively.

Some examples of signal and delayed reactions can be seen in the poems " The Most Exasperated Person in America" (p. 93) and "Summer's End" (pp. 139-140).

The book is part of the IGS Language in Action series, which publishes books devoted to creative modes of expression that can open the doors of perception, and foster better understandings of the nature of language, symbols, communication, and the semantic, technological, and media environments that we inhabit.

Institute members can purchase the book at a discount through the IGS Store (linked below) or through online retailers.

Click here to purchase Signal Reactions and Other Poems from the IGS Store.

Double Issue ETC 77:3-4 (2020) Is Now Available for Download from the IGS Store

Wed, 28 Jul 2021 19:48:44 GMT

Our long-awaited and seventh double issue 77:3-4 (2020) of ETC: A Review of General Semantics is in the mail and is now available for download from the IGS Store in searchable PDF format.

Click here to download ETC 77:3-4 from the IGS Store.

Table of Contents Preview

"Legality’s Plot to Murder Ethics: A Myth for Our Times" by Corey Anton

"Alfred Korzybski and... Warren Buffet" by Christopher W. Mayer

"The Ethics of Innovation" by Lance Strate

"Entropy Binding: A General Semantics of Environmental Consciousness" by Ashwin Vaidya

"Pandemic Language: A Battle for Control over More than the Virus" by Laura Tropp and Susan Behrens

"A General Semanticist View of the COVID Pandemic" by Savitha Sukumar

"COVID-19: A Metaphorical Analysis" by Sabrina Boyd

"From Aristophanes to Stephen Colbert: Time-Binding Western Satire" by Martin H. Levinson

"Crossword Puzzles: Mapping the Territory" by Martin H. Levinson

"Listener’s Guide to the Institute of General Semantics 1948 Summer Seminar-Workshop Audio Recordings" by Ben Hauck

"Jo Creelman’s Creative Writing Pieces Related in Different Ways to General Semantics" by Pete Creelman and Jo Creelman

"Bureaucratic Ethos in Urban Legends" by Brett Lunceford

"Lost in Thought versus Down-to-Earth Orientations—Advancing the Interplay of Intensional and Extensional Meanings: A Small Step" by Richard Fiordo

"Metaphor Analysis" by Sanhaya Soi

"A Symphony of Languages" by Suzanne G. Beyer

"Living Better with General Semantics: Updating Outdated Beliefs to Become Better Aligned with Reality" by Jaison Tremain

Poems:
"Mind Reading" by Kay Prevallet
"Asteroid (after Laura Owens)" by Kay Prevallet

Plus Book Reviews and Letter from the Editor.

Cover Art

"The Structural Differential" by Derek Bacon (ink and pencil, 55 x 48cm, 2020).

Derek Bacon is a visual artist from the UK, now based in the Netherlands. He has worked in editorial illustration since 2004, making work for many newspapers and magazines around the world, including 14 years creating cover art for The Economist. More recently, Derek has moved away from working digitally and now works in more traditional, line-based media with a focus on portraiture and scenes from nature, as well as attempts at depicting aspects of awareness, dreams and awakening. You can find more of Derek’s work at: derekbacon.com.

Double Issue ETC 77:1-2 (2020) Is Now Available for Download from the IGS Store

Tue, 04 May 2021 19:48:06 GMT

Our long-awaited and seventh double issue 77:1-2 (2020) of ETC: A Review of General Semantics is in the mail and is now available for download from the IGS Store in searchable PDF format.

Click here to download ETC 77:1-2 from the IGS Store.

Table of Contents Preview

"Introduction" by Lance Strate

"ETC: A Review of General Semantics: The Neil Postman Years" by Thom Gencarelli

"The Dark Side of Coherence" by Bill Petkanas

"Contextualizing Monuments and Movies: Iconoclasm through the Lenses of Media Ecology and General Semantics" by Eva Berger

"Teaching the Human Arts: Media Ecology and General Semantics by Michael Plugh

"The New Grammarians" by Lance Strate

"The Linguistic Turn in General Semantics, Media Ecology, and Pragmatism" by Zhenbin Sun

"Alphabetic Literacy and Pre-Reflective Meaning: Phenomenological Considerations of Ego" by Corey Anton

"Mapping the Terrortory of Media Ecology: A FEMPOETICS" by Adeena Karasick

"Living and Dying at the Edge of Dreams" by Ed Tywoniak

"Selections from Diatribal Writes of Passage in a World of Wintertextuality" by Lance Strate

Plus Letter from the Editor and a Note from the Balvant Parekh Centre for General Semantics and Other Human Sciences.

Cover Art

Thom Gencarelli, Editor of ETC: A Review of General Semantics, took the cover photograph, entitled "Train Station, Baroda," in Baroda, India in 2011.

Save the Dates: October 1-3, 2021 - The 69th Alfred Korzybski Memorial Lecture & Two-Day General Semantics Symposium

Sun, 02 May 2021 19:46:21 GMT

The Institute of General Semantics is pleased to announce that Siva Vaidhyanathan will deliver the 69th Alfred Korzybski Memorial Lecture on October 1, 2021.

A two-day general semantics symposium will follow on October 2-3, 2021.

Details on the events are in the early stages of planning. Save the dates and watch the IGS website (http://www.generalsemantics.org) for updates.

For more information about the 69th AKML, and to RSVP, click here.

About the Speaker

A cultural historian, media scholar, and lecturer, Siva Vaidhyanathan speaks on the impact of digitalization on society and democracy. In his speeches, he encourages audiences to consider how technology like Google and social media shape the way we think, and what we can do to foster a new Internet ecosystem designed to benefit the whole world.

At the University of Virginia, Siva serves as the Robertson Professor of Media Studies and the director of the Center for Media and Citizenship. He is a frequent contributor on media and cultural issues on public radio shows and news programs, notably BBC, CNN and NBC.

Siva has authored several books, including Antisocial Media: How Facebook Disconnects Us and Undermines Democracy (Oxford University Press, 2018). His articles have appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian and The Nation.

About the AKML

For a history of the Alfred Korzybski Memorial Lecture Series, click here.

About General Semantics

General semantics is a popular, practical discipline that applies modern scientific thinking toward the solution of personal and professional problems. Through the application of general semantics ideas and principles, general semantics brings about clearer thinking, peaceful interaction, and greater sanity to one's life. General semantics has served as the foundation for numerous approaches to human problems with its unique applications adapted from modern science.

The Institute of General Semantics Approves Its First 21st Century Fellows

Tue, 06 Apr 2021 19:45:36 GMT

The Board of Trustees of the Institute of General Semantics honors individuals who, through their publications and creative contributions, have made significant contributions to our understanding of language and symbol use, epistemology, and humanity, consistent with the discipline of general semantics and allied non-aristotelian approaches.

On March 20, 2021, the following fellowship of nine individuals were approved as our first 21st century Fellows of the Institute of General Semantics:

Laura Bertone (Argentina)

Isabel Caro Gabalda (Spain)

Milton Dawes (Canada)

Nicholas Johnson (USA)

TC McLuhan (Canada/USA)

Deepa Mishra (India)

Terence P. Moran (USA)

Douglas Rushkoff (USA)

Deborah Tannen (USA)

For our current list of Fellows of the Institute of General Semantics, please see our Fellows page.

Double Issue ETC 76:3-4 (2019) Is Now Available for Download from the IGS Store

Sun, 14 Mar 2021 19:44:47 GMT

Our long-awaited and sixth double issue 76:3-4 (2019) of ETC: A Review of General Semantics is in the mail and is now available for download from the IGS Store in searchable PDF format.

Click here to download ETC 76:3-4 from the IGS Store.

Table of Contents Preview

"Beyond Either-or: Creativity’s Antithetical Traits" by Martin H. Levinson

"Literally vs. Seriously: Analyzing a Contrastive Pair Applied to Interpretations of Trump's Rhetoric” by Lance Strate

"Solipsism and Rhetoric during a Time of Uncertainty: A President Turns Persuasion on Its Head" by Mark Hickson III

"Antisemitism in the United States: New Media, New Semantics, and New Problems" by Carolin Aronis

"'Bucky' and General Semantics" by Chris Mayer

"Sound: The Second Sense" by Thom Gencarelli

"What Does Anything Mean Anyway? Your Guess Is as Good as Mine" by Milton Dawes

"Mapping the Language and Rhetoric of the Vietnam War" by Martin H. Levinson

"Dating America's Response to Drugs: A Historical Overview" by Martin H. Levinson

"Teaching and Reading Jamaica Kincaid's 'Girl'" by Pramod Nayar

"Connotations of Connotations" by Paul Lippert

"The COVID-19 Pandemic, Catchphrases, and Capitalism: A Synthesis" by Flora Keshishian

"Closure as It Relates to Perception, Thinking, and Problem-Solving Tasks" by Joseph N. Agostino

"Closure in a Visual Motor Task" by Joseph N. Agostino

"This Is Jeopardy" by Suzanne G. Beyer

General Semantics "Action Plans":
"A Note from the Editor and an Explanation" by Thom Gencarelli
"Action Plan: Self-Reflexiveness" by Jesus Aguirre and Mary Lahman
"Action Plan: Nonidentity" by Kendal Garringer and Mary Lahman
"Action Plan: Non-Allness" by Derek Ginn and Mary Lahman

Plus Book Reviews.

Cover Art

"Hedgehogs' Dilemma” by Dom Heffer. 2020/Oil, Acrylic, and Spray Paint on Canvas/158 × 158 cm

From the artist: This work was provoked by Arthur Schopenhauer's description of the “hedgehogs' dilemma”—a metaphor for the problems of human “closeness.” Schopenhauer describes the problem of hedgehogs (or porcupines) huddling together for warmth and safety, but not being able to get too close because of their spikes. The idea of finding "optimal" distance between one another for successful cohabitation is the functional element of the metaphor. The Hedgehogs' dilemma made me think about where the artist fits into society. The floating figure with the glow around him is loosely based on the popular American TV artist Bob Ross. Ross was one of the first exponents of the "paint along" program. He hovers around, armed with his palette knife, trying to find his place among the hedgehogs. This work was made for a project called "Rethinking Civil Society," led by Professor Timothy Stanton at the University of York, and was completed in January 2020. Strangely enough, soon after the completion of the work, the idea of human proximity developed a new significance.

Dom Heffer (b.1978, London) is an artist, based in Hull. His work often involves paintings that are large scale and colorful, and carry a hint of anarchy. The intent is to investigate infrastructure: hidden, mechanical, or psychological. Recent works focus on the infrastructure or "semantics" of painting. They depict communication networks intruding on our visual world; canvases are netted with transmission beams, figures (or "stooges") are distorted by interference, and visual devices called "creative blocks" disrupt the scenes.

Dom has worked with many arts and research organizations, some of which include the Institute of General Semantics, the Media Ecology Association, UK City of Culture, 20/21 Visual Arts Centre, Scunthorpe, Arts Council England, and The Estate of Francis Bacon, London.

Further information about Dom's work is available at ideasinthevoid.com.

Welcome Letter from President Lance Strate (February 2021)

Mon, 22 Feb 2021 20:41:38 GMT

Dear IGS Members and Friends,

This past December, the Board of Trustees of the Institute of General Semantics elected me to the office of IGS President, and it is truly an honor and a privilege to be called upon to serve in this capacity. I want to take this opportunity to thank my predecessor, Martin Levinson, for his many years of service. Corey Anton remains the Vice-President of the IGS, and Jacqueline Rudig our Treasurer. Eva Berger has succeeded Vanessa Biard-Schaeffer as IGS Secretary, and we owe a debt of gratitude to Vanessa as well for her long tenure in that position. Thank you as well to Ben Hauck for managing our digital media, and to all of my fellow trustees for their support as I tackle the challenges that lie ahead.

For those of you who do not know me, please allow me to tell you a little bit about myself. I earned my PhD at New York University in 1991, studying with Neil Postman, and presently I hold the position of Professor of Communication and Media Studies at Fordham University in New York City. I am a past president of the New York State Communication Association, the Media Ecology Association, and most recently, the New York Society for General Semantics, and I served as Executive Director of the Institute of General Semantics from 2008-2011, joining the IGS Board of Trustees in 2013. Moreover, I am the author of eight books, including On the Binding Biases of Time published by the IGS; Media Ecology: An Approach to Understanding the Human Condition; and my second poetry collection, published by the IGS just last year, Diatribal Writes of Passage in a World of Wintertextuality. I have also co-edited seven books, including Korzybski And… (coedited by Corey Anton), published by the IGS in 2012. And I should mention that I delivered the 66th annual Alfred Korzybski Memorial Lecture in 2018, entitled, "Amazing Ourselves to Death: Contemplating the Technological Tempest of Our Times."

As this is a time of transition, much of the work that we are doing is going on behind the scenes. You can expect to see increased output of our journal, ETC, this year, as I am working with the editor, Thom Gencarelli, to get ETC back on schedule by this time next year. We will also be making the transition from rolling membership to membership based on calendar year. Whether virtual, in person, or a bit of both, we will continue to hold our annual Alfred Korzybski Memorial Lecture and concomitant symposium. And you can expect to see additional new initiatives, including new programming online, as we move forward. We will keep you informed, I promise!

If ever there was a time when the world needed the kind of sanity that general semantics has to offer, it is now! So I ask you to continue to support the institute through your membership and donations, and by spreading the word and bringing in new members. And by all means, ask what the IGS can do for you, let us know how we can best serve you, and be of service to others.

Sincerely,

Lance Strate, President

New Book - "How Do You Know?: A Guide to Clear Thinking About Wall Street, Investing, and Life" by Christopher Mayer

Sat, 13 Feb 2021 20:40:50 GMT

The Institute of General Semantics is pleased to announce the publication of How Do You Know?: A Guide to Clear Thinking About Wall Street, Investing, and Life by Christopher Mayer.

About the Book

How should you approach your investments? How should you think about them? Those are the types of questions Christopher Mayer tackles in his newest book, How Do You Know?: A Guide to Clear Thinking About Wall Street, Investing, and Life.

Through a series of provocative--and often amusing--examples, Mayer puts those perennial investing questions into a much larger context... How do you know anything at all? His answer, which is sure to make many readers uncomfortable is... you don't.

How Do You Know? is not another book on investing. It is full of ideas about investing, including one that hasn't been part of the public investing discussion in nearly 60 years. But Mayer's goal is not just to give you ideas, but to provide practical guidelines for uncluttering your thinking--that is, for getting unhelpful ideas and misleading information out of the way.

The book is now available in the IGS Store.

Click here to purchase How Do You Know?: A Guide to Clear Thinking About Wall Street, Investing, and Life from the IGS Store.

Trustees Elect Lance Strate as the New President and Eva Berger as the New Secretary of the Institute of General Semantics

Tue, 22 Dec 2020 20:39:45 GMT

After many years of faithful and fruitful service, Martin H. Levinson has stepped down from his position as President of the Institute of General Semantics, and Vanessa Biard-Schaeffer from Secretary. Both remain IGS trustees, and Biard-Schaeffer has also been appointed Ambassador-at-Large.

We are pleased to announce the election of Lance Strate as the new IGS President, and Eva Berger as Secretary. They will join current Vice President Corey Anton, and Treasurer Jacqueline Rudig, who were re-elected to their positions.

About Lance Strate

Dr. Strate is Professor of Communication and Media Studies at Fordham University in New York City, and the author of eight books, including On the Binding Biases of Time and Other Essays on General Semantics and Media Ecology; Amazing Ourselves to Death: Neil Postman's Brave New World Revisited; and most recently, Diatribal Writes of Passage in a World of Wintertextuality: Poems on Language, Media, and Life.

About Eva Berger

Dr. Berger is a former Dean and current Senior Lecturer in the School of Media Studies of the College of Management and Academic Studies in Tel Aviv, and author of The Communication Panacea: Pediatrics and General Semantics.

Videos from the 68th AKML & Two-Day General Semantics Symposium

Tue, 13 Oct 2020 19:38:58 GMT

To the IGS YouTube account, we have added nearly all of the videos of presentations from the 68th Alfred Korzybski Memorial Lecture and its subsequent Two-Day General Semantics Symposium, sponsored by the Institute of General Semantics, and co-sponsored by the Media Ecology Association and the New York Society for General Semantics.

The entire event was held over Zoom, October 9-11, 2020.

The videos are compiled into a sequential playlist that mirrors the sequence of events from the weekend.

As of publication, not all videos are available as we await consent from the presenters. As presenters consent, we will release more videos in the playlist.

Watch individual entries from the playlist »

Double Issue ETC 76:1-2 (2019) Is Now Available for Download from the IGS Store

Fri, 09 Oct 2020 19:38:11 GMT

Our long-awaited and fifth double issue 76:1-2 (2019) of ETC: A Review of General Semantics is in the mail and is now available for download from the IGS Store in searchable PDF format.

Click here to download ETC 76:1-2 from the IGS Store.

Table of Contents Preview

"Beyond Either-or: Creativity’s Antithetical Traits" by Martin H. Levinson

"General Semantics and Logotherapy" by Martin H. Levinson

"Time, Memory, and Media Ecology" by Lance Strate

"And Now for Something Completely Different: What Are We Studying in Semantics, and
General Semantics?" by Ben Hauck

"General Semantics’ Psychotherapeutic Use: The General Semantics Debate to Face Uncertainty" by Isabel Caro Gabalda

"Culture: An Alternative Conception of Space-Binding" by Thom Gencarelli

"'We Don’t Need No Education': Language or Logic?" by Michael Moore

"The Height of Identification: Metaphorizing Corporeality and Illness" by Bini B. S.

"General Semantics for Babies and Their Parents" by Vanessa Biard-Schaeffer

"Origins of Popaganda" by Paul Lippert

"Literary Applications of General Textual Semantics: New Sources and Understandings of Hamlet (Part I)" by Stan Kozikowski

"Waze’s Impact on Ways" by Michaela Lynch

"Hashtag’s Impact on the News" by Sajani Mantri

"Communication: Three Pedagogical Paradigms" by Peter Zhang

"The London Effect as We Know It" by Peter Zhang

"Consciousness Revisited: A Buddhist Perspective, Offered as a Response to Lance Strate" by Tim Lyons

"Arguing Semantics" by Spencer Arnault

"An Action Plan for Nonidentity" by Courtney Zentz and Mary Lahman

"Feminist₁ Isn’t Feminist₂; Anti-feminist₁ Isn’t Anti-feminist₂" by Alex Cote and Mary Lahman

"Miscommunication in the Egyptian Museum: A Case Study" by Destinee Boutwell and Mary Lahman

"Time-Binding Plan: Journey to Recovery" by Mikaylie Whybrew and Mary Lahman

"Time-Binding Plan for Truth and Identity Triggers" by Brandon Burgess and Mary Lahman

Two Poems:
"Fraught" by Jane Blanchard
"To the End of the Age" by Jane Blanchard

Plus Letter from the Editor and Book Reviews

Cover Art

“Carry on Painting” by Dom Heffer (2018, Oil on Canvas, 148 × 125 cm).

From the artist: “‘Carry on Painting’ is an ironic look at the famous British comedy genre, with its seemingly innocuous bawdy humour. The painting emerged after a family Christmas spent
with the ‘Carry On’s’ playing back to back on a UK TV channel, much to the delight of the older generations of the family.”

Dom Heffer (b.1978, London) is an artist, based in Hull. His work often involves paintings that are large scale and colorful, and carry a hint of anarchy. The intent is to investigate infrastructure: hidden, mechanical, or psychological. Recent works focus on the infrastructure or “semantics” of painting. They depict communications networks intruding on our visual world; canvases are netted with transmission beams, figures (or “stooges”) are distorted by interference, and visual devices called “creative blocks” disrupt the scenes.

Dom has worked with many arts and research organizations, some of which include the Institute of General Semantics; the Media Ecology Association; UK City of Culture; 20/21 Visual Arts Centre, Scunthorpe; Arts Council England; and the Estate of Francis Bacon, London.

Further information about Dom’s work is available at ideasinthevoid.com.

Double Issue ETC 75:3-4 (2018) Is Now Available for Download from the IGS Store

Tue, 23 Jun 2020 20:12:30 GMT

Our long-awaited and fourth double issue 75:3-4 (2018) of ETC: A Review of General Semantics is in the mail and is now available for download from the IGS Store in searchable PDF format.

Click here to download ETC 75:3-4 from the IGS Store.

Table of Contents Preview

"Holocaust Commemoration and Stolpersteine" by Gary Gumpert and Susan Drucker

"The 'Ize' Have It…" by Milton Dawes

"The Way of the Word" by Michael Moore

"What Can You Do for General Semantics?" by Ben Hauck (J. Talbot Winchell Award 2018 Acceptance Speech)

"Aldous Huxley and General Semantics" by Martin H. Levinson

"Responding to Hypocrisy: Getting a Handle on its Abundance and its Apparent Irrelevance" by Corey Anton

"The Medium Is the Membrane" by Lance Strate

"Emojis: New Language or Technology-Based Trend" by Marcel Danesi

"Walter Ong’s Last Book: Language as Hermeneutic" by Sara Van Den Berg

"Playing the Fool: Trump’s Appeal to Each of Korzybski’s Fools" by Julia C. Richmond and Ernest Hakanen

"Meta-Semantic-Painting" by Dom Heffer

"Postman and Aristotle on Language" by Laura Trujillo Liñán

"How Do You Know?" by Chris Mayer

"Taxonomies, the Ecological Fallacy, and the Net Generation" by Brett Lunceford

"As She then Was: CF v Alberta (Vital Statistics) and the Power of Breaking" Logical Fate" by Jan Lukas Buterman

"Democratizing Photography: The Evolution of the iPhone Camera" by Angie Caruso

"Referents and Objects: A Parallel between General Semantics and Yog!ac!ara Buddhism" by Thomas A. Rowe

"Ali Baba in Australia: Tale of a Semantic Shift" by Gabor Korvin

"'Go Look It Up!' Dad's Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition" by Suzanne G. Beyer

"'I Feel That…,' 'I Feel Like': Problems Big and Small" by Mark Bernstein

"Eight Poems" by Barry Liss

"Nietzsche’s Lost Aphorisms on Management" by Ross Jackson

"I Was So Tired This Morning and Now Here I Am Awake" by Edwin Torres (in collaboration with Kristin Prevallet)

Plus Letter from the Editor and Book Reviews.

Cover Art

Ross Jackson, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of Business at Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio. His current research interests include linguistic and existential facets of the military-industrial complex, and the potential intersectionality among analysis, data visualization, and d´etournement. Through his work, he advocates for a more poetic existence, or at least one that is slightly less banal.

New Book - "Diatribal Writes of Passage in a World of Wintertextuality: Poems on Language, Media, and Life (But Not as We Know It)" by Lance Strate

Sat, 06 Jun 2020 20:09:33 GMT

The Institute of General Semantics is pleased to announce the first book in its Language in Action Series.

The book, Diatribal Writes of Passage in a World of Wintertextuality: Poems on Language, Media, and Life (But Not as We Know It) by Lance Strate is his second poetry collection.

About the Language in Action Series

The Language in Action series, sponsored by the Institute of General Semantics, publishes books devoted to creative modes of expression that can open the doors of perception, and foster better understandings of the nature of language, symbols, communication, and the semantic, technological, and media environments that we inhabit. Through processes of play and probing, art can bring into awareness alternative forms of experience and evaluation to the everyday, routine, taken-for-granted world. It can also shed new light on mind and method, consciousness and culture, abstracting and attention, ecology and enlightenment, and, most important to students of general semantics, science and sanity.

Founded in 1938 by Alfred Korzybski, the Institute of General Semantics promotes, in the words of S.I. Hayakawa, the study of how not to be a damn fool. As a non-aristotelian system devoted to enhancing human potential, general semantics has inspired numerous novelists, poets, artists, musicians, and creative thinkers. General semantics today is devoted to explorations of meaning and the meaning of meaning, of metaphors and memes, archetypes and arts, symbols and signals, signs and significance, codes and ciphers, sense perception and sense-making, and the vast variety of ways of seeing, feeling, and thinking that humanity is heir to. The quarterly journal of the IGS, ETC: A Review of General Semantics, has been publishing essays, research, and literary work since 1943.

About Strate's New Book

Strate's entry in the series brings together an eclectic mix of poems that address the themes of language, communication, media, technology, and poetry itself, etc.

A bold and radiant journey into a jigsaw universe, Strate’s poems reveal a redemptive self-awareness, a playful exuberance with the twists and turns of the whirling worlds of language and imagery, feeling and experience.

–T.C McLuhan, author and filmmaker

Significant, casually formal, sly, engaging, passionately inexact, curious, playful, and utterly readable: the magic in Lance Strate’s poems is in the profound and humble poetic intelligence that guides them. With it he creates a charged silence in the gaps between the words where their consensual meanings, along with the reader, pass through the universe of things thus far unsaid–the ever-present substance of what life feels like–before they reach the next word on the other side.

–Chuck Wachtel, poet, novelist, Pen/Ernest Hemingway Citation recipient

Lance Strate’s wordplay unleashes a tumbling and a turning of phonemes and phrases skipping consciousness like stones on a lake. This is a delightful collection resonant with sound and rhythmic flourishes. The poet’s jesters that “…the meaning of meaning is meaning… a leaning” then immediately goes about his craft pitting story against a light-hearted dance with language.

–Lillian Allen, internationally acclaimed poet and Professor of Creative Writing, Ontario College of Art and Design University

Lance Strate’s clever, pithy, and logocentric poetry at once celebrates language and manifests itself as performance art. Poems with titles such as “essays,” “prose,” and “these words”—unlike the verbiage described in “up in smoke” becoming “disappeared for all time”—will endure. Why? Because, for example, the science fiction poem “ode on a geekian urn” poses the definitive question of our brave new science fiction virus-sodden world: “thank goodness the Force was with us then is it with us now?” The answer: emphatically yes. We have Strate’s luminous poetic illocutionary force to accompany us and light our way during dark times.

–Marleen Barr, novelist, literary critic, and Pilgrim Award recipient

Lance Strate has created a joyous maelstrom of cultural symbolism, timeless mystery, and linguistic dance. His style is both childlike and profound… as if Mother Goose had a son with Lewis Carroll raised by Camille Paglia and Kurt Vonnegut and given a mission to expand the boundaries of perspective and wonder. Treat yourself to insightful, poetic lunacy of the highest order.

–Stephen Roxborough, internationally acclaimed poet, co-founder of Burning Word poetry festival, and Head Poet for Madrona Center on Guernes Island

The book is now available in the IGS Store.

Click here to purchase Diatribal Writes of Passage in a World of Wintertextuality from the IGS Store.

New Audio from Alfred Korzybski and S. I. Hayakawa Now Available for Download from the IGS Store

Sun, 26 Apr 2020 20:07:36 GMT

The Institute of General Semantics recently digitized hours of recordings from Alfred Korzybski and S. I. Hayakawa rescued from reels in our archive.

These recordings are now available for listening and download from the IGS Store.

The following recordings of Alfred Korzybski were recently digitized:

The following recording of S. I. Hayakawa was recently digitized:

Language: Key to Human Understanding (AHA 1955)

These recordings come after the recent digitization of more than 15 hours of recordings made from the Institute of General Semantics 1948 Summer Seminar-Workshop at Millbrook School, Millbrook, NY.

These recordings were digitized by IGS trustee Ben Hauck.

Download these audio recordings and more from the IGS Store »

New Audio Collection: The 1948 Summer Seminar-Workshop, Featuring Alfred Korzybski, Douglas Kelley, Irving, J. Lee, Harry Holtzman, and More

Mon, 20 Apr 2020 20:06:58 GMT

In 1948, the Institute of General Semantics hosted a Summer Seminar-Workshop at Millbrook School in New York. Over 15 hours of audio recordings from that course were recently digitized, and for the first time ever, the recordings are now available for listening and download from the IGS Store.

Recorded in August and September 1948, the recordings reflect a wide range of speakers, general semantics lessons, and teacher-student interactions. They were digitized and enhanced in 2020 from reels rescued from the Institute of General Semantics archives.

Included with the MP3 album of 25 audio files is the Listener's Guide for IGS 1948 Summer Seminar-Workshop by Ben Hauck, which meticulously brings together archival information about the course -- from its planning to names of those in attendance, and more.

The following general semantics lecturers speak in the recordings on these subjects and others:

Stuart Chase - House on Un-American Activities
William Exton, Jr. - Audio-Visual Aids, Maps, Non-Verbal Symbols
Harry Holtzman - Visual Art; Abstract Art
Douglas Kelley - Work of Adelbert Ames, Jr., Psychiatry, Structure, Function of the Human Nervous System, Conditioned Reflexes; On Magic; Prejudice, and Question & Answer Session
M. Kendig - Introduction to Allen Walker Read; Neuro-Linguistic, Neuro-Semantic Environments on Teaching and Writing General Semantics
Alfred Korzybski - Introduction to Douglas Kelley
Irving J. Lee - Statements of Fact, Inferencing; Question & Answer Session
Allen Walker Read - Semantic Guide
Sam Rosen - Using General Semantics in Medical Situations

Approximate Running Time: >15 hours

These audio recordings and listener's guide complement the motion picture produced during the 1948 course:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qep9ppZ0oK0

This audio collection is available as a downloadable ZIP file including 25 MP3 audio files and a listener's guide PDF with photographs.

Click here to order the 1948 Summer Seminar-Workshop Audio Collection »

NOTE: The ZIP file is 162MB, a large file. You have 4 days from the moment of purchase to complete the download, and 4 attempts to succeed. Only order when you have enough time to download the file to a computer or external hard drive with enough space. To open the ZIP, you may need to extract the contents of the ZIP file with additional free software.

New Edition - "Sensible Thinking for Turbulent Times" by Martin H. Levinson

Thu, 16 Apr 2020 20:06:00 GMT

Martin H. Levinson has just released the revised second edition for his book Sensible Thinking for Turbulent Times, and it is now available in the IGS Store.

About the Book

In these times of rapid change and constant upheaval, can we learn to think and communicate more effectively — at home, in school, on the job, and as citizens in the larger world? This book, which is based on the formulations of general semantics, says yes, yes, and yes! Topics in it include practical ways to improve your thinking ability, emotional self-management, creativity, and analysis of important social issues.

Order Sensible Thinking for Turbulent Times (Revised Second Edition) in the IGS Store »

About the Author

Martin H. Levinson, Ph.D., is the President of the Institute of General Semantics and the author of numerous articles and several books on general semantics and other subjects.

Audiobook Version of "Practical Fairy Tales for Everyday Living" Now Available

Mon, 30 Mar 2020 20:05:22 GMT

The audiobook version of Martin H. Levinson's popular, humorous book of general semantics lessons, Practical Fairy Tales for Everyday Living (Revised Second Edition), is now available for purchase and download from Audible.

In addition, the audiobook is available for download on iTunes (Apple Books).

About Practical Fairy Tales for Everyday Living

In Practical Fairy Tales for Everyday Living, fanciful characters that one can identify with battle personal problems, mishaps, and mayhem. None of them are guaranteed a happily-ever-after, but by applying the fundamentals of general semantics -- a communication-based self-help system -- they are better able to evaluate and understand everyday conundrums to successfully vanquish challenging situations. While these 24 stories may not be true in the literal sense, G.K. Chesterton observed that, “Fairy tales are more than true, not because they tell us dragons exist, but because they tell us dragons can be beaten.”

The book is by IGS president Martin H. Levinson, and the audiobook is narrated by IGS trustee Ben Hauck.

All proceeds from the audiobook will be donated to the Institute of General Semantics.

The book is available in softcover and Kindle versions. You may order the softcover from the IGS Store.

Audiobook Links

Purchase the audiobook from Audible »

Purchase the audiobook on Amazon »

Purchase the audiobook on iTunes (Apple Books) »

Videos from the 67th AKML & 2-Day General Semantics Symposium

Mon, 09 Dec 2019 21:04:47 GMT

To the IGS YouTube account, we have added nearly all of the videos of presentations from the 67th Alfred Korzybski Memorial Lecture and its subsequent 2-Day General Semantics Symposium, sponsored by the Institute of General Semantics, and co-sponsored by the Media Ecology Association and the New York Society for General Semantics.

The entire event was held at the Princeton Club in New York City, October 11-13, 2019.

The videos are compiled into a sequential playlist that mirrors the sequence of events from the weekend.

As of publication, not all videos are available as we await consent from the presenters. As presenters consent, we will release more videos in the playlist.

Watch individual entries from the playlist »

Double Issue ETC 74:3-4 (2017) Is Now Available for Download from the IGS Store

Tue, 05 Mar 2019 21:04:05 GMT

Our long-awaited and second double issue 74:3-4 (2017) of ETC: A Review of General Semantics is in the mail and is now available for download from the IGS Store in searchable PDF format.

Click here to download ETC 74:3-4 from the IGS Store.

Table of Contents Preview

"The Pathologies of Perfectionism" by Paul Watzlawick

"Fanaticism: The Panhuman Disorder" by Margaret Mead

"The Rise of 'Middle Region' Politics" by Joshua Meyrowitz

"Television: The New State Religion?" by George Gerbner

"Laws of the Media" by Marshall McLuhan

"The Mystery of the Discovery of Zero" by Robert K. Logan

"An Aspect of the Role of Persuasion in a Technical Society" by Jacques Ellul

"Human Engineering and Social Adjustment" by Edward L. Bernays

"The Information Environment" by Neil Postman

"Harold Innis: A Man of His Times" by Eric A. Havelock

"A Few Speculations on the Future of General Semantics" by Russell Joyner

"Educational Research: The Romance of Quantification" by Charles Weingartner

"The Semiotic Aspect of Alfred Korzybski's General Semantics" by Allen Walker Read

"How Things Get Better" by Henry J. Perkinson

"Structuralism in Reverse" by Jay Rosen

"Multiordinality: A Point of Viewing" by Milton Dawes

"Time-Binding in Oral Cultures" by Lance Strate

"Dreamy Americans Prefer a Paper Moon to the Real Thing" by Lewis H. Lapham

"Not Without Us" by Joseph Weizenbaum

"Literacy as a Deviance" by Christine Nystrom

"Knowledge or Certainty" by J. Bronowski

"On the Recently Minted Hundred-Cent Piece" by John Updike

"Undoing Babel: C.K. Ogden's Basic English" by W. Terrence Gordon

"General Semantics and Practical Philosophy" by Sanford I. Berman

"Silence and Paralanguage as Communication" by Joseph A. Devito

"The Relevance of General Semantics" by Alvin Toffler

"Toward Understanding E-Prime" by Robert Anton Wilson

"How to Think Scientifically about Yourself, Other People, and Your Life Conditions" by Albert Ellis

"The Computer 'Virus' as Metaphor" by Raymond Gozzi, Jr.

"The Arithmetic" by Steve Allen

"ETC (Volume I, Number 1) Revisited" by Martin H. Levinson, Ph.D.

"Media Literacy, General Semantics, and K-12 Education" by Renee Hobbs

"Korzybski and Bateson: Paradoxes in 'Consciousness of Abstracting'" by Corey Anton

"Neil Postman's Advice on How to Live the Rest of Your Life" by Janet Stenberg

"Young Alfred Korzybski" by Bruce I. Kodish

"Appreciative Inquiry + General Semantics → IFD Disease Resistance" by Mary P. Lahman

Plus Letter from the Editor.

Cover Art

"Walter in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction" by Dom Heffer (b.1978, London) -- an artist, based in Hull, who has worked with many arts and research organizations, some of which include the
Institute of General Semantics, the Media Ecology Association, UK City of Culture, 20/21 Visual Arts Centre, Scunthorpe, Arts Council England, and The Estate of Francis Bacon, London. Further information about Dom’s work is available at: ideasinthevoid.com

Videos from the 66th AKML & 2-Day General Semantics Symposium

Wed, 19 Dec 2018 21:03:22 GMT

To the IGS YouTube account, we have added nearly all of the videos of presentations from the 66th Alfred Korzybski Memorial Lecture and its subsequent 2-Day General Semantics Symposium, sponsored by the Institute of General Semantics, and co-sponsored by the Media Ecology Association and the New York Society for General Semantics.

The entire event was held at the Princeton Club in New York City, October 26-28, 2018.

The videos are compiled into a sequential playlist that mirrors the sequence of events from the weekend.

As of publication, not all videos are available as we await consent from the presenters. As presenters consent, we will release more videos in the playlist.

Watch individual entries from the playlist »

Dominic Heffer's "Meta/Semantic/Painting" Film Shown on Big Screen Leeds in Yorkshire, England

Sun, 09 Dec 2018 21:01:46 GMT

Dominic Heffer is a trustee of the Institute of General Semantics and an artist based in the United Kingdom.

Throughout December, his recent work "Meta/Semantic/Painting" will be shown on Big Screen Leeds, Millenium Square, in Leeds city centre.

The work was initially made for the 2018 General Semantics Symposium in New York City.

The work shows the developing structures of three paintings through a series of animated thought processes that emerge into "final" images. Ideas such as Alfred Korzybski's map/territory analogy and Gregory Bateson's research into denotative communication, inform the work.

You can see the full length film at https://ideasinthevoid.com/2018-meta-semantic-painting/.

Below are some representative images from the work.

Interview with Martin H. Levinson on General Semantics for Managing War Trauma

Mon, 19 Nov 2018 21:46:23 GMT

Institute of General Semantics president Martin H. Levinson was recently interviewed on using general semantics for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

The interview is part of a two-part series by Mike Kim on general semantics and managing war trauma.

The series appears on the website The Mindful Word.

New Edition - "Practical Fairy Tales for Everyday Living" by Martin H. Levinson

Thu, 15 Nov 2018 21:45:50 GMT

The Institute of General Semantics is pleased to announce the release of the revised second edition of Practical Fairy Tales for Everyday Living by Martin H. Levinson.

In Practical Fairy Tales for Everyday Living, fanciful characters that one can identify with battle personal problems, mishaps, and mayhem.

None of them are guaranteed a happily-ever-after, but by applying the fundamentals of general semantics -- a communications-based self-help system -- they are better able to evaluate and understand everyday conundrums to successfully vanquish challenging situations.

While these twenty-four stories may not be true in the literal sense, G.K. Chesterton observed that, "Fairy tales are more than true not because they tell us dragons exist, but because they tell us dragons can be beaten."

Click here to purchase Practical Fairy Tales for Everyday Living from the IGS Store.

Double Issue ETC 74:1-2 (2017) Is Now Available for Download from the IGS Store

Sat, 03 Nov 2018 20:43:23 GMT

Our long-awaited double issue 74:1-2 (2017) of ETC: A Review of General Semantics is in the mail and is now available for download from the IGS Store in searchable PDF format.

Click here to download ETC 74:1-2 from the IGS Store.

Table of Contents Preview

"etcetera" by e e cummings

"Science and Values" by Edward L. Thorndike

"People in Quandaries: And Why They Are There" by Wendell Johnson

"The Relation of Habitual Thought and Behavior to Language" by Benjamin Lee Whorf

"Adolph Hitler and Words" by F. K. Richter

"General Semantics: An Introductory Lecture" by S. I. Hayakawa

"Release of Atomic Energy" by Alfred Korzybski

"A Suggested Improvement in Semantic Usage" by A. H. Maslow

"Probability as a Guide in Life" by Rudolf Carnap

"Alfred Korzybski July 3, 1879 - March 1, 1950 Biographical Summary" by Anatol Rapoport

"On the Varieties of Research in General Semantics" by Irving J. Lee

"Lineal and Nonlineal Codifications of Reality" by Dorothy Lee

"Obiter Dicta: The Nylon War" by David Riesman

"Communication: Its Blocking and Its Facilitation" by Carl R. Rogers

"Recent Contributions to the Mathematical Theory of Communication" by Warren Weaver

"Metalogue: Daddy, How Much Do You Know?" by Gregory Bateson

"Background to Kinesics" by Ray L. Birdwhistell

"Toward a Humanistic Psychology" by A. H. Maslow

"'Never Have So Few Owed So Much to So Many'" by Newton N. Minow

"The Erewhonians and the Open Society" by Karl R. Popper

"Go Slow" by Langston Hughes

"Towards a Theory of Protest" by Kenneth E. Boulding

"The Backlash Blues" by Langston Hughes

"The Ambiguous Mirror: The Reflective-Projective Theory of Broadcasting and Mass Communication" by Lee Loevinger

"Crises in Communication: A Plea for Awareness and Response" by Nicholas Johnson

"Not Since Babel" by Edmund Carpenter

"The Limits of My Media" by Terence P. Moran

"What I Think Korzybski Thought--and What I Think about It" by Anatol Rapoport

Plus Letter from the Editor.

Cover Art

The title of this double issue's cover photograph is "Manhood of Humanity," by photographer Stephen Shore. Marty Levinson, President of the Institute of General Semantics, saw Stephen's photographs on display at a show dedicated to him at the Museum of Modern Art in late 2017, and was surprised to see this photo -- which as you will note, in the top half, includes the inset from Korzybski’s book. At Marty's request, Stephen has given the Institute permission to use the photo for the cover of ETC. As Marty wrote: "I think it’s a real paean to time-binding."

Thom Gencarelli Announced as the New Editor of "ETC: A Review of General Semantics"

Thu, 11 Oct 2018 20:42:10 GMT

The Institute of General Semantics is proud to announce Thom Gencarelli, Ph.D., as the new editor of our quarterly journal ETC: A Review of General Semantics.

Dr. Gencarelli's first issue as an editor will be ETC 74:1-2, a double issue retrospective of the journal as it turns 75 years old. The double issue will be shipping late October 2018.

Editor Biography

Thom Gencarelli received his Ph.D. from the Media Ecology program at New York University in 1993 where, as a student of Neil Postman, he was first introduced to Alfred Korzybski’s work and the principles of General Semantics. Thom is currently Professor and the founding Chair of the Communication Department at Manhattan College in Riverdale, New York. He has been a member of the Board of Trustees of the Institute of General Semantics since 2008 and is a Past President of the Media Ecology Association, the New York State Communication Association, and the New Jersey Communication Association (twice). His research interests include general semantics, media ecology, new media developments and their consequence, media literacy/media education, and popular media and culture (with an emphasis on popular music). He is, most recently, co-editor (with Brian Cogan) of the anthology Baby Boomers and Popular Culture: An Inquiry into America’s Most Powerful Generation (ABC-Clio/ Praeger, 2014), and he has been writing a book about language acquisition and cognitive development (which he hopes to finally finish once he steps down as department chair in 2019). In 2013, he received the Christine L. Nystrom Award for Outstanding Career Achievement in Service to the Field of Media Ecology from the Media Ecology Association and, in 2016, received the John F. Wilson Fellowship Award for Scholarship and Service from the New York State Communication Association. Thom is also a songwriter, musician, and producer, and has released two album-length works with his ensemble bluerace, World is Ready and Beautiful Sky. The group’s third album, Mistral, will be out this year.

Learn More about ETC

ETC: A Review of General Semantics was founded in 1943 by the International Society for General Semantics. ISGS merged with the Institute of General Semantics in 2003. Since that time, the Institute has published the journal.

Subscription information for ETC: A Review of General Semantics »

ETC 73:4 (October 2016) Is Now Available for Download from the IGS Store

Tue, 02 Oct 2018 20:41:39 GMT

Our long-awaited issue 73:4 (October 2016) of ETC: A Review of General Semantics is in the mail and is now available for download from the IGS Store in searchable PDF format.

Click here to download ETC 73:4 from the IGS Store.

Table of Contents Preview

"'She's a Little Different': Autism-Spectrum Disorders in Primetime TV Dramas" by Phillip S. Poe and Maxwell C. Moseley

"Biases in Making Choices" by Joe DeVito

"The Transmission Model of Communication: Toward a Multidisciplinary Explication" by Zachary S. Sapienza, Aaron S. Veenstra, Kestas Kirtiklis, and Steve S. Giannino

"The Meaning of Graffiti: An Interpretation" by Daniel D. Gross and Timothy D. Gross

"How to Develop Your Thinking Ability Using General Semantics" by Martin H. Levinson

"The Spectacle of Analysis: Analytics as Organizational Propaganda" by Ross Jackson

"How 'Dead Verbs' Have Imprisoned the English Language" by Stan Kozikowski

"Seven Myths about Abraham Lincoln" by Martin H. Levinson

"A Lexicon for Social Media: A Proposal" by Daniel D. Gross

The Next Generation:
"On the Behavioral Assessment of Semantics" by Kyle Krantz
"Personal Time-Binding Plan" by Nolan McBride
"Differentiation Failures: Polarization" by Jacob Ray

Poems:
"Visiting the Park" by Danny P. Barbare
"Emily Wrote to Me" by Danny P. Barbare
"Dog Bark Middle Night" by Richard L. Epstein
"A Convocation of Categories" by Martin H. Levinson
"Roses are …" by Martin H. Levinson
"ANA, Log Out" by Lance Strate

Plus Letter from the Editor and Book Reviews.

Cover Art

The photograph used for the cover of ETC 73:4 is by Rick Wise -- the fourth image in a four-part series. Wise labels his images “Photographic Fiction.” Currently he is working on two different series, Things, everyday objects we pass by without seeing, and Time-Flows, in which time is simultaneously expanded and contracted. He considers all of his work “Dancing with the Eye.”

New Book - "Awareness and Action: A Travel Companion" by Mary P. Lahman

Sat, 11 Aug 2018 20:41:08 GMT

The Institute of General Semantics is pleased to announce its latest book in the New Non-Aristotelian book series.

The book, Awareness and Action: A Travel Companion by Mary P. Lahman, asks the questions:

Are you aware of how your words create worlds?
Are you aware of how your language and listening habits impact interactions in the classroom, at work, and on the road?

Created as a practical guide for learning to communicate well in these contexts, Awareness and Action connects theory with practice.

In Part 1, explore how your senses, previous experiences, and pervading cultural norms filter your perceptions. Once you develop an awareness of the limited details humans use to draw conclusions, you learn to take action with language and listening behaviors that more accurately align with the natural world, not what you infer is happening.

In Part 2, practice the language behaviors that Alfred Korzybski developed to delay responding to automatic thinking processes. Using principles from his theory of general semantics, you will learn how to “go to the territory” — find details in the natural world — so that your words match the experiences they represent. Moreover, you will discover how to apply Korzybski’s formula for happiness: set minimum expectations and practice maximum motivation when interacting with others.

Awareness and Action gives you the tools. Now it’s your turn to “go to the territory” of your own life to find where you can improve your communication skills.

Click here to purchase Awareness and Action: A Travel Companion from the IGS Store.

New Printing - "People in Quandaries: The Semantics of Personal Adjustment" by Wendell Johnson

Fri, 06 Jul 2018 20:39:40 GMT

The Institute of General Semantics is pleased to announce that one of its most popular books -- People in Quandaries: The Semantics of Personal Adjustment, by Wendell Johnson -- is back in print!

The book is now available in a softcover version, as well as a PDF download from the IGS Store.

About the Book

People in Quandaries deals with the "mechanics" of disappointments, frustrations, and other sources of unhappiness.

It carefully examines how linguistic misevaluations produce our feelings of inadequacy and failure; how our verbal habits can result in false "pictures" of ourselves and our environment; how our unreliable linguistic maps keep us in quandaries.

The book then demonstrates how to recognize and change unrealistic ideals and aspirations; how to improve our ability to cope with the circumstances of an increasingly unpredictable world.

An ideal gift to introduce friends to general semantics!

Click here to purchase People in Quandaries from the IGS Store.

The IGS Store Is Back Online!

Thu, 05 Jul 2018 20:39:05 GMT

The Institute of General Semantics recently did a soft relaunch of its online store, and now we are ready to more officially announce its release!

The new IGS Store features many of the same books, ebooks, periodicals, and audio recordings as the past store. You can also purchase IGS memberships and gift memberships as well as request articles from ETC: A Review of General Semantics and the General Semantics Bulletin.

If you had an account with the prior store, you will need to create a new account when ordering.

We will be fine-tuning the IGS Store over the Summer 2018. Should you have any issues with the store, or any feedback on the new store, please reach out the IGS Orders Dept. (aka Customer Service) by email here.

Visit the new IGS Store »

ETC 73:3 (July 2016) Is Now Available for Download from the IGS Store

Tue, 05 Jun 2018 20:38:24 GMT

Our long-awaited issue 73:3 (July 2016) of ETC: A Review of General Semantics is in the mail and is now available for download from the IGS Store in searchable PDF format.

Click here to download ETC 73:3 from the IGS Store.

Table of Contents Preview

"'Copying Animals in Our Nervous Processes' with Possible Implications for the Evolution of Psychiatric Disorders" by Mark H. Bernstein
"The World as Process" by Richard L. Epstein
"Oceanic Gyres, Grammatical Gyres: What We Do Not Know That Has Hurt Us" by Stan Kozikowski
"Dating General Semantics" by Martin H. Levinson
"In Defense of the Athenian Way: Neil Postman and Eric Hoffers' Arguments Regarding Aesthetic Creativity" by Barry D. Liss
"General Semantics and Worker Supervision: A Case Study" by Martin H. Levinson
"Peripheral Vision: Re-Imaginging Marginality" by Janelle Wilson
Poems:
"San Francisco November 16 2010" by Lance Strate
"My System" by Lance Strate
"A Turn of a Phrase" by Lance Strate
"No Fairytale Ending, I'm Afraid" by Lance Strate
"Flushing" by Lance Strate
"The Art of Facts" by Lance Strate
"Cross I'd Twisted Tongue" by Lance Strate
"Grecian Formula" by Lance Strate
"A Fickle Pickle" by Lance Strate
"The Oranges of Consciousness in the Breakdance of the Bicameral Mind" by Lance Strate
Plus Letter from the Editor and News & Notes.

Cover Art

The photograph used for the cover of ETC 73:3 is by Rick Wise -- the third image in a four-part series. Wise labels his images “Photographic Fiction.” Currently he is working on two different series, Things, everyday objects we pass by without seeing, and Time-Flows, in which time is simultaneously expanded and contracted. He considers all of his work “Dancing with the Eye.”

The Entire Back Catalog of the Journal "Communication" Now Available for Free Download from the IGS Store

Tue, 16 Jan 2018 21:36:29 GMT

Gordon and Breach, Science Publishers, Inc., has recently given permission to the Institute of General Semantics to distribute PDF scans of the entire back catalog of its journal Communication. All fifteen issues are now available for free download from the IGS Store.

Click here to download Communication from the IGS Store.

Published from 1974 to 1983, editor Lee Thayer -- recipient of the 2017 J. Talbot Winchell Award for exceptional service to the field of general semantics -- described the biannual periodical as:

[…] devoted to new conceptual, theoretical and philosophical approaches to the role and consequences of communication in human affairs. The relevance, timeliness and topicality of this publication make it invaluable if you are interested in studying man through communication or concerned with communication generally from a professional or academic point of view. Each issue will be devoted to a specific topic.

The original editorial board for Communication featured an impressive lineup of individuals, many of whom influenced the field of general semantics. The editorial board as described in the first issue included the following individuals, helmed under the editorship of Lee Thayer:

John G. Bennett, England
Herbert Blumer, U.S.A.
Daniel J. Boorstin, U.S.A.
Kenneth E. Boulding, U.S.A.
Kenneth Burke, U.S.A.
S. N. Eisenstadt, Israel
Georges Friedmann, France
George Gerbner, U.S.A.
Gyorgy Kepes, U.S.A.
Harold D. Lasswell, U.S.A.
Claude Lévi-Strauss, France
Marshall McLuhan, Canada
Floyd W. Matson, U.S.A.
Igor Mel'čuk, U.S.S.R.
F. S. C. Northrop, U.S.A.
Walter J. Ong, U.S.A.
lthiel de Sola Pool, U.S.A.
Karl H. Pribram, U.S.A.
Anatol Rapoport, Canada
David Riesman, U.S.A.
Jurgen Ruesch, U.S.A.
Wilbur Schramm, U.S.A.
Thomas A. Sebeok, U.S.A.
Harley C. Shands, U.S.A.
Geoffrey Vickers, England

Click here to download Communication from the IGS Store.

Videos from the 65th AKML & 2-Day General Semantics Symposium

Thu, 21 Dec 2017 21:35:57 GMT

To the IGS YouTube account, we are currently adding videos of presentations from the 65th Alfred Korzybski Memorial Lecture and its subsequent 2-Day General Semantics Symposium, sponsored by the Institute of General Semantics, and co-sponsored by the Media Ecology Association and the New York Society for General Semantics.

The entire event was held at the Princeton Club in New York City, October 27-29, 2017.

The videos are compiled into a sequential playlist that mirrors the sequence of events from the weekend.

As of publication, not all videos are available as we await consent from the presenters. As presenters consent, we will release more videos in the playlist.

Watch individual entries from the playlist »

ETC 73:1 (January 2016) Is Now Available for Download from the IGS Store

Wed, 27 Sep 2017 20:17:55 GMT

After a long wait, issue 73:1 (January 2016) of ETC: A Review of General Semantics is in the mail and is now available for download from the IGS Store in searchable PDF format.

Click here to download ETC 73:1 from the IGS Store.

Table of Contents Preview

From the Vault:
"Interview with Allen Flagg" by Martin H. Levinson
"Spirituality at the Speed of Light" by Lance Strate
From the Vault:
"The Future of Consciousness" by Lance Strate
"Meet Me Tonight in Dreamland: Revisiting S. I. Hayakawa's 'Popular Songs vs. the Facts of Life" by Robert Albrecht
"Why Journalists Lie: The Troublesome Times for Janet Cooke, Stephen Glass, Jayson Blair, and Brian Williams" by Jefferson Spurlock
"Fairy Tale: Swansong for Trump" by Marleen S. Barr
"Groping 'Pussy Galore': Transporting Trump from Reality TV to Unreal Genre Fiction--Dystopia, Fairy Tale, and Science Fiction" by Marleen S. Barr
"Live from New Yawk: Donald Trump Sounds like The Real Housewives of New York City Cast" by Marleen S. Barr
"Of Hopis and Heptapods: The Return of Sapir-Whorf" by John Engle
"The Star Image and National Identity of Sessue Hayakawa and Marlene Dietrich" by James Eric (Jay) Black
"Photonics, Globalism, and Tribalism" by Eugene Marlow
"The Language of the Gods: An Analysis of the Possibility of Conceptual Schemes" by John Engle
"Reconstructing (What Barely Passes for) English Grammar: Looking Well Beyond E-Prime" by Stan Kozikowski
Poems:
"Condo" by Jane Blanchard
"A Priori" by Jane Blanchard
"As If to Shine" by Danny P. Barbare
"Us Janitors" by Danny P. Barbare
Plus Letter from the Editor and News and Notes.

Cover Art

The photograph used for the cover of ETC 73:1 is by Rick Wise. Wise labels his images “Photographic Fiction.” Currently he is working on two
different series, Things, everyday objects we pass by without seeing, and Time-Flows, in which time is simultaneously expanded and contracted. He considers all of his work “Dancing with the Eye.”

New Book - "How to Avoid Making a Fool of Yourself" by R. Wayne Pace

Fri, 21 Apr 2017 21:00:09 GMT

The Institute of General Semantics is pleased to announce its latest book in the New Non-Aristotelian book series.

The book, How to Avoid Making a Fool of Yourself: An Introduction to General Semantics by R. Wayne Pace, provides a classic refresher of basic principle of GS brought into today's world.

The book presents itself an ideal workbook for classroom use, and it serves an an excellent updated introduction to the insights and applications of general semantics.

Click here to purchase How to Avoid Making a Fool of Yourself from the IGS Store.

After a long wait, issue 72:4 (October 2015) of ETC: A Review of General Semantics is in the mail and is now available for download from the IGS Store in searchable PDF format. Click here to download ETC 72:4 from the IGS Store. Table of Contents Preview "Introduction: A Seat at the Nerd Table" by Lonny J. Avi Brooks and Aram Sinnreich "Everybody and Nobody: Visions of Individualism and Collect

Tue, 17 Jan 2017 21:59:33 GMT

After a long wait, issue 72:4 (October 2015) of ETC: A Review of General Semantics is in the mail and is now available for download from the IGS Store in searchable PDF format.

Click here to download ETC 72:4 from the IGS Store.

Table of Contents Preview

"Introduction: A Seat at the Nerd Table" by Lonny J. Avi Brooks and Aram Sinnreich
"Everybody and Nobody: Visions of Individualism and Collectivity in the Age of AI" by Aram Sinnreich, Jessa Lingel, Gideon Lichfield, Adam Richard Rottinghaus, and Lonny J. Avi Brooks
"Black Holes as a Metaphysical Science" by Jessa Lingel, Daniel Sutko, Gideon Lichfield, and Aram Sinnreich
"The End of Material Scarcity: Dystopia and Immanent Critique of Capitalism" by Adam Richard Rottinghaus, Roseann Pluretti, and Daniel Sutko
"The Medium Is the Message of the Future: Tyranny of Media in Organizing Our Imagery" by Daniel Sutko, Jessa Lingel, Aubrie Adams, and Adam Richard Rottinghaus
"The Aliens Are Us: The Limitation That the Nature of Fiction Imposes on Science Fiction about Aliens" by Gordon Lichfield, Aubrie Adams, and Lonny J. Avi Brooks
"Narratives on Extending and Transcending Mortality: An Essay on Implications for the Future" by Aubrie Adams, Adam Richard Rottinghaus, and Ryan Wallace
"Toward an 'Other' Dimension: An Essay on Transcendence of Gender and Sexuality" by Roseann Pluretti, Jessa Lingel, and Aram Sinnreich
"Future Im/perfect: Defining Success and Problematics in Science Fiction Expressions of Racial Identity" by Ryan Wallace, Roseann Pluretti, and Aubrie Adams
"Afro-Futuretyping Generation Starships and New Earths 05015 CE" by Lonny J. Avi Brooks, Daniel Sutko, Aram Sinnreich, and Ryan Wallace
Poem:
"A Map of Her Own" by Matthew Wells
Plus Letter from the Editor.

Cover Art

The photograph used for the cover of ETC 72:4 is a collage titled Futuretypes that was designed and created by Aram Sinnreich. Dr. Sinnreich is an associate professor at the American University’s School of Communication, and author of the recent book The Piracy Crusade: How the Music Industry’s War on Sharing Destroys Markets and Erodes Civil Liberties (University of Massachusetts Press). He holds a Ph.D. from the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California.

Lance Strate Delivers a Talk on General Semantics at Henan University (Kaifeng, China)

Tue, 27 Dec 2016 21:59:07 GMT

On December 27, 2016, Fordham University professor and IGS trustee Lance Strate delivered a talk on general semantics at Henan University in Kaifeng, China.

There were about 100 faculty and students in attendance from his host, the School of Journalism and Communication, as well as attendees from the departments of foreign languages and linguistics.

Professor Strate's talk followed a previous talk he gave at Henan University in November 2016 on language and media, which included a discussion of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis.

IGS Trustee Thom Gencarelli to Lead Panel at ECA

Sat, 17 Dec 2016 21:58:41 GMT

Institute of General Semantics trustee Thom Gencarelli (Manhattan College) will lead a roundtable panel at the Eastern Communication Association's 108th Annual Convention.

The panel, titled "Freedom to Agree to Disagree? General Semantics, Political Discourse, and the 2016 Presidential Campaign and Election," will feature IGS trustee Lance Strate (Fordham University), IGS trustee and president Martin H. Levinson, as well as Michael Plugh (Manhattan College) alongside Gencarelli.

The panel discussion will be on March 31, 2017, from 2pm-3:15pm at the Omni Park Hotel in Boston, MA. For more information on the panel discussion, consult our event page.

Videos from the 64th AKML & 2-Day General Semantics Symposium

Sun, 20 Nov 2016 21:58:10 GMT

To the IGS YouTube account, we are currently adding videos of presentations from the 64th Alfred Korzybski Memorial Lecture & 2-Day General Semantics Symposium, sponsored by the Institute of General Semantics, and co-sponsored by the Media Ecology Association and the New York Society for General Semantics.

The entire event was held at the Princeton Club in New York City, October 21-23, 2016.

The videos are compiled into a sequential playlist that mirrors the sequence of events from the weekend.

As of publication, not all videos are available as we await consent from the presenters. As presenters consent, we will release more videos in the playlist.

Watch individual entries from the playlist »

ETC 72:3 (July 2015) Is Now Available for Download from the IGS Store

Sat, 20 Aug 2016 20:57:33 GMT

The long-awaited issue 72:3 (July 2015) of ETC: A Review of General Semantics is in the mail and is now available for download from the IGS Store in searchable PDF format.

Click here to download ETC 72:3 from the IGS Store.

Table of Contents Preview

"The DEW Line Card Deck as a Metagame" by Eric McLuhan and Peter Zhang
"The Unbinging of Time: On Bureaucratic Counter-Productivity" by Corey Anton and Valerie V. Peterson
"General Semantics and PTSD in the Military" by Martin H. Levinson
"The Smartphone: A Media Ecological Critique" by Peter Zhang
"Realities: Words, 'Minds,' Institutions, Psychoanalysis, and Cosmoanalysis: A Calculus-Structural-Heuristic Approach (Part 1)" by Milton Dawes
"Realities: Words, 'Minds,' Institutions, Psychoanalysis, and Cosmoanalysis: A Calculus-Structural-Heuristic Approach (Part 2)" by Milton Dawes
"Realities: Words, 'Minds,' Institutions, Psychoanalysis, and Cosmoanalysis: A Calculus-Structural-Heuristic Approach (Part 3)" by Milton Dawes
"Word Magic" by Michael Moore
Probe:
"Fill in the Blanks" by Bill Haase
Poems:
"Solitude" by Ross Jackson
"The Postmodern Office" by Ross Jackson
"Reflections on Art and Science" by Martin H. Levinson
"The Face of the Matter" by Martin H. Levinson
"Ludwig at the Bat" by Martin H. Levinson
"The Devastation of WW I Leads Alfred Korzybski to Devise General Semantics" by Martin H. Levinson
"People Do" by Martin H. Levinson
"Less Is More" by Martin H. Levinson
Plus Letter from the Editor, News and Notes, and Obituary.

Cover Art

The photograph used for the cover of ETC 72:3 is of the collage "Passage" by Shawn Waltman, a surreal collage and digital artist living in Lafayette, California. His early and recent work can be seen at http://shawnwaltman.deviantart.com.

IGS Mourns the Passing of Allen Flagg, NYSGS President, IGS Board Member, and Longtime General Semantics Advocate

Tue, 14 Jun 2016 20:56:34 GMT

It is with great sadness that the Institute of General Semantics reports the passing of Allen Flagg, a board member for IGS, as well as a recent president of the New York Society for General Semantics, not to mention a longtime advocate of general semantics.

Allen passed away on May 30, 2016, in New York City.

The NYSGS website hosts more information on Allen's life. Allen was a vibrant, energetic, and charismatic leader of general semantics education. He was adept at bringing people outside the world of general semantics into meetings and allowing them to share their perspectives, expanding the reach of general semantics and its overlap with other fields.

In 2006, ETC: A Review of General Semantics (ETC 63:3) ran an interview with Allen Flagg by Martin H. Levinson. The interview ran with a photo of Allen. Below is the text of the interview:

ALLEN FLAGG, the president of the New York Society for General Semantics, is 83 years young. He grew up in Ord, Nebraska and went to college at NYU where he majored in math and minored in physics and English. After World War II, Allen worked as an insurance casualty underwriter for many years. He lives in New York City in an apartment overflowing with books in every room. I interviewed him there on February 6, 2006.

Levinson: How did you first get involved with GS?

Flagg: I attended a lecture at the New York Academy of Sciences in 1952 given by Horace Kallen, an NYU philosophy professor who was talking about a book that he had written. At that lecture a form was passed around from the New York Society for General Semantics, which had an office in the Academy of Sciences building, requesting that people put their names and addresses on a
mailing list. I put my name on the list.

Levinson: What happened next?

Flagg: I attended NYSGS meetings. In the spring of 1959 I became Harry Maynard’s teaching assistant for an “Introductory to General Semantics” course that he taught at Great Neck High School. Harry was an executive with Life International Magazine and when he was out of town I took over the teaching duties. In the fall, Harry taught an intermediate GS course at Great Neck High and I taught the intro course. A student taking my course was also attending Queens College, and he asked the college administration if they would add general semantics to their program. They agreed to do that so I also taught GS there. I have also taught general semantics classes for IBM, the New School, and Fairfield University. And, in the 1970s, I served as Executive Director of the New York Society for General Semantics.

Levinson: Have you attended IGS seminars?

Flagg: I have gone to perhaps 6 or 8 seminars. My interest in IGS seminars started in 1954, when Charlotte Read invited me to participate as a working scholar. I recall that Buckminster Fuller came to one the seminars I attended. Some prominent seminar presenters I remember include Francis Chisolm, who took Korzybski’s place, Samuel Bois, Marjorie Swanson, and Harry Holtzman. I have also attended a great many Alfred Korzybski Memorial Lectures. I went to all of them till about 1975, when work took me to California. I have helped organize some recent AKMLs.

Levinson: Have you studied Science and Sanity?

Flagg: During the 1950s and 1960s, I participated in a NYSGS Science and Sanity discussion group. Kendig and Charlotte Read, along with a dozen other experts, led presentations involving different parts of Science and Sanity. I found it a very stimulating and enlightening way to reflect on Korzybski’s seminal work.

Levinson: Have you written about GS?

Flagg: I have written several articles for the General Semantics Bulletin and two that have been published in books — one on dream education and general semantics that appeared in Understanding Sanity and Human Affairs and one on GS group participation exercises.

Levinson: What are some of your other interests besides GS?

Flagg: I am very interested in working with dreams.

Levinson: How did that interest evolve?

Flagg: I had a strong interest in dream analysis for a long time and that enthusiasm became intensified when I met Clara Stewart, who later became my wife in 1966 (Pearl Eppy, a board member of the New York Society for General Semantics, introduced us). Clara knew quite a bit about dream-work. She followed dream expert Kilton Stewart’s system of using dream symbols to improve the work, and I incorporated her knowledge into my dream studies. I find working with dreams is a useful complement to GS — GS emphasizes intellectual and cognitive factors while dreams are useful for understanding unconscious, intuitive levels. Both areas are concerned with knowledge and consciousness and how we know what we know.

Levinson: Are you a member of any dream organizations?

Flagg: I am the vice president of Friends of the Institute of Noetic Science (FIONS). That organization was founded by Edgar Mitchell, the sixth man to walk on the moon. When Mitchell was coming back from the moon he saw the earth, in black space, as a glowing green, blue, and white sphere and this produced in him a feeling of oneness with humanity. When he arrived on terra firma he collected friends of his and organized FIONS. Interestingly, Buckminster Fuller, who gave an AKML lecture, was famous for talking about “spaceship earth.”

Levinson: What are some of your other interests?

Flagg: I like to run. I am a “benefactor member” of the New York Road Runners Club and I have many trophies from races that I have won. I currently do three and four-mile runs in Central Park. I also attend Marine Corps reunions. I served active duty with the Marines during World War II.

Levinson: How has GS changed over the years that you have been involved with it?

Flagg: Many people and organizations have taken pieces and chunks of GS and developed useful offshoots from it. For example, Neil Postman took aspects of general semantics to develop the discipline of media ecology; the field of Neuro-Linguistic Programming took some of the neuro-semantic aspects of GS; and Albert Ellis has emphasized various elements of GS in his psychotherapy.

Levinson: What do you see as the future for GS?

Flagg: We need to get more people involved with GS. At the New York Society for General Semantics we offer meetings focused on verbal and nonverbal communication. We consider ourselves as a matrix for human communication that includes the sciences, humanities, art, dance, architecture, writing, literature, and drama. When people come to our meetings we offer them GS literature and encourage them to subscribe to ETC and learn more about general semantics. The idea is to show that GS is a multi-faceted discipline that expands one’s awareness of oneself and the world.

Share your thoughts and memories of Allen in the comments below.

Lance Strate Named President of the New York Society for General Semantics

Mon, 23 May 2016 20:56:09 GMT

A bit of recent news from our sister organization, the New York Society for General Semantics:

Fordham Communications professor Lance Strate, Ph.D., has become the new president of the New York Society for General Semantics. He will be conducting monthly NYSGS meetings in the fall at The Players Club in New York City. More information to follow.

Dr. Strate recently posted an update on NYSGS on his blog.

For information on future NYSGS events, please visit http://www.nysgs.org.

ETC 72:2 (April 2015) Is Now Available for Download from the IGS Store

Mon, 21 Dec 2015 21:55:28 GMT

ETC: A Review of General Semantics is in the mail and is now available for download from the IGS Store in searchable PDF format.

Click here to download ETC 72:2 from the IGS Store.

Table of Contents Preview

"Work-Life & The Popular Press: How Words Create Worlds" by Mary P. Lahman and Alison Lietzenmayer
"World War I: The Closing Period of the Childhood of Humanity" by Martin H. Levinson
"Hebrew Slang" by Fred Skolnik
"On Being Read To" by Daniel Linton
"Three GS-Related Satires" by Martin H. Levinson
"Principles into Praxis: Peace and Nonviolence in Action" by Bini B. S.
"Essay: Bloody Fingers" by Barry Chersky
"The Next Generation: Revising the Happiness Formula" by Jermaine Martinez
From the Vault:
"Michael Polanyi and Carl Rogers: A Dialogue" by Michael Polanyi and Carl Rogers
"Not by Any Means: Doubletalk in the Service of 'Humane' Ends" by Christine L. Nystrom
"Forward from the Editor" by Neil Postman
Poems:
"Dusting the Window Sill" by Danny P. Barbare
"Cleaning the Showers" by Danny P. Barbare
Plus Letter from the Editor.

Cover Art

The photograph used for the cover of ETC 72:2 is of stained glass work "Bloody Fingers" by Barry Chersky, an artist and writer based in Los Olivos, California. Photo courtesy of Michael Baiad.

Videos from the 63rd AKML & 2-Day General Semantics Symposium

Fri, 27 Nov 2015 21:53:16 GMT

We have just added video of presentations to the IGS YouTube account from the 63rd Alfred Korzybski Memorial Lecture & 2-Day General Semantics Symposium, sponsored by the Institute of General Semantics at the Princeton Club in New York City, October 2-4, 2015.

The videos are compiled into a sequential playlist that mirrors the sequence of events from the weekend.

As of publication, not all videos are available as we await consent from the presenters. As presenters consent, we will release more videos in the playlist.

Click here to watch individual entries from the playlist.

IGS Mourns the Passing of Dr. Sanford I. Berman, AKML Speaker, and Berman Award Sponsor

Sat, 01 Aug 2015 21:05:48 GMT

Sanford I. Berman

The Institute of General Semantics has learned that Dr. Sanford I. Berman -- 2003 Alfred Korzybski Memorial Lecturer, sponsor of the Sanford I. Berman Award for Excellence in Teaching General Semantics, general semantics author, scholar, and longtime donor -- passed away on June 16, 2015.

Dr. Sanford I. Berman, philanthropist, real estate investor, professional hypnotist, and former board member of the Institute of General Semantics, passed away on June 16, 2015.

The son of a livestock broker, Berman was born Oct. 15, 1924 in Virginia, Minnesota, a small town north of Duluth. He received his Bachelor’s degree in Radio and Communications from the University of Minnesota; a Master’s in Speech from Teacher’s College, Columbia University; and a doctorate in Speech Communications from Northwestern University, where he then assisted Dr. Irving J. Lee in his famous general-semantics classes. Berman served as president of the International Society for General Semantics, and was on the Board of Trustees of both the Society and the Institute of General Semantics.

As of the year 2000, Berman had given more than a million dollars to the University of California, San Diego (UCSD); San Diego State University (SDSU); and University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). Berman endowed the Sanford I. Berman Institute for Effective Communication and General Semantics at SDSU in 1997, the Sanford I. Berman Chair in Language and Human Communication at UCSD in 1998, the Dr. Sanford I. Berman Professorship of Public Discourse and General Semantics at UNLV in 1999, and UNLV's Sanford I. Berman Debate Forum.

Books relating to general semantics by Berman include Words, Meanings and People, The Closed Mind, How to Lessen Misunderstandings, and Why Do We Jump to Conclusions? Berman acted as editor for Logic and General Semantics: Writings of Oliver L. Reiser and Others and he created over 100 audio tapes on motivation and general semantics. Sanford I. Berman was a towering figure in the field of general semantics and he will be greatly missed by GSers all over the world.

The San Diego Union-Tribune ran a profile of Dr. Berman's extraordinary life as a hypnotist and general semanticist in its July 5th obituary announcement.

IGS is in possession of Dr. Berman's educational cassettes, which it hopes to make available in MP3 versions by year's end in the IGS Store.

ETC 72:1 (January 2015) Is Now Available for Download from the IGS Store

Sun, 19 Jul 2015 21:05:03 GMT

ETC: A Review of General Semantics will soon be mailed and is now available for download from the IGS Store in searchable PDF format.

Click here to download ETC 72:1 from the IGS Store.

Table of Contents Preview

"The Terrance Deacon’s Incomplete Nature: How Mind Emerged from Matter. The Teleodynamics of Culture, Language, Organization, Science, Economics and Technology (CLOSET). Part II: Are Culture, Language, Organization, Science, Economics, and Technology (CLOSET) Teleodynamic Phenomena?" by Robert K. Logan
"Structuring and the Notion 'Time': A General Semantics Conscious Time-Binding Approach" by Milton Dawes
"The Time Binders in Korzybski’s Manhood of Humanity" by Krishna Daiya
"On Language Wars" by Michael Moore
"Danger: Deficiences Ahead" by Gary H. Mayer
Interview:
"Media Ecology and Teaching Chinese as a Second Language (TCSL)" by Peter Zhang, Chin-Chin Tseng, and Natalie Sheen
From the Vault:
"Metalanguage" by Gregory Bateson
"Form, Substance, and Difference" by Gregory Bateson
"The Relevance of General Semantics" by Alvin Toffler
Poems:
"'I am a tear of the sun': Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Autobiography" by Phillip Dow
"The Face" by Joan Colby
"Joyrides" by Joan Colby
"The Sketch Artist" by Joan Colby
"Vowels" by Joan Colby
"ISMS" by Joan Colby
Plus Letter from the Editor, Book Reviews, News and Notes.

Cover Art

The photograph used for the cover of ETC 72:1 is titled Haecceity “此”性 and is part of a textual and
photographic essay Zen Musings as featured in ETC 71:4 by photographer Wei-Shyuan (Stone) Peng.

Click here to view more photography by Stone Peng.

ETC: A Review of General Semantics is Now Available on JSTOR

Sat, 28 Mar 2015 21:03:40 GMT

Back issues of our journal, ETC: A Review of General Semantics, are now available on JSTOR, the digital library that includes academic journals, books, and primary sources. In addition, previews of selected articles from back issues of ETC are also available. ETC is available as part of the Arts & Sciences XIV collection on JSTOR.

Currently, back issues from 1943-2009 are electronically preserved in JSTOR. Click here for more information on JSTOR.

Click here to access the back catalog of ETC: A Review of General Semantics on JSTOR.

To access the JSTOR page directly, use the URL: http://www.generalsemantics.org/jstor

Purchase Back Issues of ETC

If you wish to purchase back issues of ETC, you may do so in searchable PDF format from the IGS Store.

Click here to browse back issues of ETC: A Review of General Semantics in the IGS Store.

ETC 71:4 (October 2014) Is Now Available for Download from the IGS Store

Thu, 12 Mar 2015 21:11:54 GMT

Volume 71, Number 4 (October 2014), of the Institute of General Semantics's quarterly journal ETC: A Review of General Semantics will soon be mailed and is now available for download from the IGS Store in searchable PDF format.

Click here to download ETC 71:4 from the IGS Store.

Table of Contents Preview

"Zen Musings" by Peter Zhang and Wei-Shyuan (Stone) Peng
"The Terrance Deacon's Incomplete Nature: How Mind Emerged from Matter. The Teleodynamics of Culture, Language, Organization, Science, Economics and Technology (CLOSET). Part I: A Review and Précis of Incomplete Nature" by Robert K. Logan
"Political Symbols and American Exceptionalism" by John Engle
"The Labeling Process and Other Interdisciplinary Similarities between Buddhism and General Semantics" by Christoper Bear-Beam
Probes:
"The Wise and the Journalist" by Vanessa Biard-Schaeffer
From the Vault:
"Words and Music" by Hal Tracy
Poems:
"Spinners" by Hillel A. Schiller
"Fate" by Hillel A. Schiller
Plus Letter from the Editor, Dates and Indexes, and Book Reviews.

Cover Art

The photograph used for the cover of ETC 71:4 is titled "Folds褶" and is part of a textual and photographic essay "Zen Musings" that is one of our two featured pieces for this issue. Photographer Wei-Shyuan (Stone) Peng is a hydrogeologist based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. There are a total of nine photographs presented in this photo essay.

Click here to view more photography by Stone Peng.

ETC 71:3 (July 2014) Is Now Available for Download from the IGS Store

Sun, 15 Feb 2015 22:11:09 GMT

Volume 71, Number 3 (July 2014), of the Institute of General Semantics's quarterly journal ETC: A Review of General Semantics has been mailed and is now available for download from the IGS Store in searchable PDF format.

Click here to download ETC 71:3 from the IGS Store.

Table of Contents Preview

"A Culture of Teaching and Learning Excellence Starts with an Examination of Assumptions: Influences of General Semantics on Faculty Development" by Chris Stabile
"Cicero's Brutus: A History of Rhetoric or a History of Politics?" by Panagiotes Kontonasios
"An Esperanto of Evaluation" by Devkumar Trivedi
Perspectives:
"GS as a Humanist Endeavor" by Dom Heffer
The Next Generation:
"Shifting Traditions: Chaucer's Narrative Accompliment in the Wife of Bath's Tale Considered in the Context of the Shift from Oral Tradition to Literate Print Tradition" by Ruth Sylvester
Probes:
"Horizons" by Milton Dawes
"Focal Knowledge, Medium Bias, and Metamedium" by Peter Zhang
From the Vault:
"A Perceptual Model of the Whorfian Thesis" by Ralph L. Carnes
"Not Since Babel" by Edmund Carpenter
"Inherent Meanings" by Ross Jackson
Plus Letter from the Editor, Letters to the Editor, Book Reviews, and News and Notes.

Cover Art

The cover of ETC 71:3 is from a painting by British artist Dominic Heffer titled "All the Trash Goes Somewhere."

Click here to view more art by Dominic Heffer.

New Book by Eva Berger & Isaac Berger - "The Communication Panacea: Pediatrics and General Semantics"

Tue, 30 Dec 2014 22:10:21 GMT

Newly published from the Institute of General Semantics is The Communication Panacea: Pediatrics and General Semantics, a book by IGS Trustee Eva Berger, Ph.D., and Isaac Berger, M.D.

The book is now available from the IGS Store.

About the Book

The Communication Panacea: Pediatrics and General Semantics by Eva and Isaac Berger provides a most interesting and relevant examination of the profound, and often dangerous, influences that human communication practices have on health outcomes. The book, firmly grounded in the theory of General Semantics, describes the power of language use in shaping interpretations of reality and responses to health care. While grounded in relevant theory, this book is not a dry academic treatise. It provides vivid analyses of real health care cases, demonstrating how communication influences both the delivery of care and responses to health care. The book suggests best communication strategies for health care providers and consumers to achieve desired health outcomes. The authors encourage strategic use of communication that empowers consumers to take charge of their health, that promotes cooperation in the delivery of care, and that facilitates informed health decision-making. I recommend this fascinating book for health care providers, consumers, and policy makers to help them utilize communication to enhance the quality and effectiveness of health care.

-- Gary L. Kreps
University Distinguished Professor
Director of the Center for Health and Risk Communication
George Mason University

Writing in the tradition of Neil Postman, Ivan Illich, and Susan Sontag, this collaboration between a doctor of philosophy and a doctor of medicine combines an innovative theoretical approach with the stories of eight patients shared not as "case-studies," but as key-moments to show how vital it is to change our mentality and our language when addressing the idea of illness itself.

-- Lance Strate
Professor of Communication and Media Studies
Fordham University

The Communication Panacea fills a major gap in the study of the modern doctor-patient relationship, applying the principles of General Semantics to the too often uncanny communicative processes affecting the way patients perceive their illness, as well as their response to it. The idea of a "personalized semantic medicine," brilliantly and rigorously discussed in this book, is suggested as a truly convincing strategy to regain focus on the patient within (and in spite of) the increasingly complex medical (corporate-like) environment.

Berger and Berger combine a substantial innovative theoretical approach with the stories of eight patients shared not as "case-studies," but as key-moments to show how vital it is to change our mentality (as well as our language) when addressing the idea of illness itself. They challenge us to think of medicine as art and not as war; a linguistic and a conceptual shift which could impove the quality of many patients and doctor[s] alike.

-- Elena Lamberti
Department of Modern Languages, Literatures and Cultures
University of Bologna

About the Authors

Eva Berger

Eva Berger is a Professor of Communication at the School of Media Studies of COMAS (College of Management Academic Studies) in Israel where she was Dean (2006-2012). Dr. Berger is member of the Board of Trustees of the Institute of General Semantics (since 2009) and of ETC.: A Review of General Semantics (since 2008). She is member of the Editorial Board of Giluy Daat: A Multidisciplinary Journal on Education, Society and Culture (since 2011) and was member of the Editorial Board of EME: Explorations in Media Ecology (2005-2014). She has held many public positions and is active in numerous organizations in Israel: She was member of the search committee for candidates for the position of Chair of the Council for Cable and Satellite Communications (appointed in 2013 by the Minister of Communication); Chair of the Board of Women in the Picture (an organization for the advancement of women in the visual arts); member of the Israel Press Council (2011-2013) and of the Israeli Film Board (2000-2006). She is member of the board of IPI (Israel Peace Initiative, since 2011). Eva is periodically invited as guest commentator on Israel's newspapers and public and private radio and television stations; she is the author of programs for the teaching of media in Israel's high schools; and has published numerous academic articles and book chapters on varying topics including war photojournalism; advertising; language, metaphor and narrative; and media and technology. Eva is married and has two sons.

Isaac Berger

Isaac Berger studied medicine at UNAM--National University of Mexico in Mexico City (1955-1961). He did his internship as well as his residency in Pediatrics at Michael Reese Hospital in Chicago and was research fellow in neonatology there. In 1965, he returned to his country of origin -- Mexico -- where along with his private practice throughout the years, he was instructor of postgraduate courses in Pediatrics at Juarez Hospital; assistant lecturer in Pediatrics at UNAM (National University of Mexico); lecturer in Pediatrics at the School of Nursing as well as at the residency program of American British Cowdray Hospital in Mexico City; and he taught neonatology at Hospital Infantil Privado where he was physician in charge of Medical Education. In 1977 Dr. Berger moved with his family to Israel where he became Head of the Pediatric Outpatient Department of Meir General Hospital in the city of Kfar Saba, and later Head of Pediatric Ambulatory Services (including Emergency Room, Clinics, Day Hospital Unit, and Child Development Unit). Isaac coauthored numerous articles and chapters in books. He retired from the hospital in 2003 and aside from his still active private practice he is medical advisor to a large child development center in Israel. Isaac is married and has five daughters and nine grandchildren.

Purchase the Book

Click here to purchase The Communication Panacea in the IGS Store.

New Book by Martin Levinson - "A Continuing Education Guide to Teaching General Semantics"

Tue, 11 Nov 2014 22:08:38 GMT

Newly published from the Institute of General Semantics is A Continuing Education Guide to Teaching General Semantics, a 56-page book by IGS President Martin H. Levinson, Ph.D.

The book is now available from the IGS Store.

About the Book

Debuting at the 62nd Alfred Korzybski Memorial Lecture in October 2014 as a gift to registrants, the 56-page book A Continuing Education Guide to Teaching General Semantics offers guidance for teachers interested in creating a continuing education course for students of general semantics.

General semantics (GS) is a process-oriented, problem-solving system that trains individuals to make their language and thinking more relative to objective reality in order to better evaluate and understand the world. Its ideas and formulations have been taught in numerous college courses throughout the world. Over the years, many articles on the benefits of GS have appeared in the General Semantics Bulletin and ETC: A Review of General Semantics and more than 150 doctoral and master's degree theses have demonstrated its efficacy. General semantics is clearly a highly useful methodology with a wide range of applicability in diverse areas of human endeavor.

This guide contains twelve continuing education lessons in general semantics. Each lesson includes an Introduction (for the teacher) of the basic GS ideas to be presented, a Motivation to begin the lesson, and Suggested Activities for students. Lessons can be combined or abbreviated depending on the time constraints of the course and wishes of the instructor.

About the Author

Martin H. Levinson, Ph.D., is the President of the Institute of General Semantics, Vice President of the New York Society for General Semantics, and book editor of ETC: A Review of General Semantics. He is the author of four books and numerous articles on general semantics.

Purchase the Book

Click here to purchase A Continuing Education Guide to Teaching General Semantics in the IGS Store.

ETC 71:2 (April 2014) Is Now Available for Download from the IGS Store

Sat, 01 Nov 2014 21:07:49 GMT

Volume 71, Number 2 (April 2014), of the Institute of General Semantics's quarterly journal ETC: A Review of General Semantics has been mailed and is now available for download from the IGS Store in searchable PDF format.

Click here to download ETC 71:2 from the IGS Store.

Table of Contents Preview

"Media Literacy as an Ethical Obligation: A General Semantics Approach" by Lance Strate
"'Living History' as the 'Real Thing': A Comparative Analysis of the Modern Mountain Man Rendezvous, Renaissance Fairs, and Civil War Reenactments" by Patrick McCarthy
"Political Catchwords: Linguistic Maps That Shape Politics and Governance" by Martin H. Levinson
"The Next Generation: An Analysis of Autism through Media Representation" by Alexandria Prochnow
Perspectives:
"The Challenges Facing General Semantics" by Ben Hauck
Metaphors in Action:
"Convergence" by Raymond Gozzi, Jr.
"Interview with IGS President Martin H. Levinson" by Edward Tywoniak
Probes:
"Vitalism in Ivie" by Peter Zhang
From the Vault:
"Towards a Theory of Protest" by Kenneth E. Boulding
"Korzybski's Quest" by Gerald Haslam
"Our Computational Culture: From Descartes to the Computer" by Berg R. Dreyer
"Fanaticism: The Panhuman Disorder" by Margaret Mead
Poems:
"Surroundings" by Ross Jackson
"A Persistent Lack of Gravity" by Ross Jackson
"Syllogism" by Jane Blanchard
"Resolution" by Jane Blanchard
"Erasure" by Jane Blanchard
Plus a Letter from the Editor and News and Notes.

Cover Art

The cover of ETC 71:2 is from a painting by Tana Lehr titled Any Road.

Click here to view more art by Tana Lehr.

New Book by Isabel Caro Gabalda - "El Uso del Leguaje en Psicoterpia Cognitiva"

Fri, 31 Oct 2014 21:07:25 GMT

Professor Isabel Caro Gabalda of the University of Valencia in Spain has published El Uso del Leguaje en Psicoterpia Cognitiva (2014), a volume on cognitive psychology that is based on general semantics.

Professor Caro Gabalda dedicates the book to her former colleagues at the International Society for General Semantics and the Institute of General Semantics, specifically Sanford I. Berman, Mary Morain, Patricia G. Maynard, Robert U. Redpath, William Exton, Jr., and Charlotte Schuchardt-Read.

In the copy she sent to IGS, Professor Caro Gabalda penned on the flyleaf "To all my colleagues at the Institute of General Semantics for the support of my interest in general semantics." She has clearly turned that interest into an important book containing practical uses for GS.

You may purchase the book from the following link: http://www.edesclee.com/products.php/ISBN9788433027368

ETC 71:1 (January 2014) Is Now Available for Download from the IGS Store

Thu, 12 Jun 2014 21:36:27 GMT

Volume 71, Number 1 (January 2014), of the Institute of General Semantics's quarterly journal ETC: A Review of General Semantics has been mailed and is now available for download from the IGS Store in searchable PDF format.

Click here to download ETC 71:1 from the IGS Store.

Table of Contents Preview

"The Cult/Ure of Personality" by Thom Gencarelli
"A Time to Keep Silence, and a Time to Speak" by Michael Moore
"Ten Common Blocks to Clear Thinking with General Semantics Correctives" by Martin H. Levinson
"[P] etc." by Dominic Heffer
"Ten Cautionary GS Lessons from World War I" by Martin H. Levinson
"Indexing, Dating, Etc., in Higher Education" by Gary H. Mayer
"Awareness and Action: A General Semantics Approach to Effective Language Behavior (Part 4) -- Inference-Observation Confusion: Distinguishing between Observation and Inference)" by Mary P. Lahman
"Perspective: Some Thoughts on Current and Future Directions for GS" by Martin H. Levinson
Probes:
"Aristotle's Fourfold Causality, Tetralemma, and Emergence" by Ben Zhang and Bill Guschwan
From the Vault:
"The Narrow-Gauge, Broad-Band Medium" by Ben Bakdikian
"The Ambiguity of Perception" by Gary Gumpert
"Wading in the Shadows" by Barry Liss
"Et Cetera" by Catherine Zickgraf
"Surroundings" by Ross Jackson
Plus News and Notes.

Cover Art

The cover of ETC 71:1 is from a painting by Nicole Wilson titled The Dreamer.

Click here to view more art by Nicole Wilson.

ETC 70:4 (October 2013) Is Now Available for Download from the IGS Store

Thu, 27 Mar 2014 21:34:51 GMT

Volume 70, Number 4 (October 2013), of the Institute of General Semantics's quarterly journal ETC: A Review of General Semantics has been mailed and is now available for download from the IGS Store in searchable PDF format.

Click here to download ETC 70:4 from the IGS Store.

Table of Contents Preview

"Alethic Relativism and Faultless Disagreement: Weighing in on the Puzzle from a General Semantics Perspective" by John Engle
"On the Benefits of Sticking to Certain Principles: A Response to Lloyd Moran's 'How Pseudo-Scientists Get Away with It'" by Tim Lyons
"What Is Mathematics and Why Does It Matter" by Carmen M. Latterell and Janelle L. Wilson
"The Largest Whale Penis in the Jungle and Other Big Things: Toward Simpler Messages" by Mark Hickson III
"The Real Consequences of Imaginary Sex Acts" by Brent Lunceford
"An Inconvenient Booth: Mistaking Symbol for Both Map and Territory" by Jan Lukas Buterman
"Awareness and Action: A General Semantics Approach to Effective Language Behavior (Part 3) -- Allness: Discovering It Is Not Possible to Know Everything about Anything" by Mary P. Lahman
75th Anniversary Reprint:
"Laws of the Media" by Marshall McLuhan
"Television: The New State Religion?" by George Gerbner
"The Information Environment" by Neil Postman
Plus Book Reviews and Dates and Indexes.

Cover Art

The cover of ETC 70:4 is from a painting by British artist Dominic Heffer titled "Painting etc. 2."

Click here to view more art by Dominic Heffer.

ETC 70:3 (July 2013) Is Now Available for Download from the IGS Store

Mon, 30 Dec 2013 22:33:45 GMT

Volume 70, Number 3 (July 2013), of the Institute of General Semantics's quarterly journal ETC: A Review of General Semantics has been mailed and is now available for download from the IGS Store in searchable PDF format.

Click here to download ETC 70:3 from the IGS Store.

Table of Contents Preview

"On Semantics and General Semantics: Re-Defining the Former to Understand the Latter" by Ben Hauck
"The Science and Sanity of Listening" by Benjamin J. Cline
"Awareness and Action: A General Semantics Approach to Effective Language Behavior (Part 2) - Abstraction: Exploring Why the Map Is Not the Territory" by Mary P. Lahman
"Loose Lips: Broadcast and Socially Mediated Political Rhetoric and the Sinking of the 2012 Senatorial Campaigns of Todd Akin and Richard Mourdock" by Jefferson Spurlock
"The Textbook Writer" by Joseph A. DeVito
Metaphors in Action:
"Reality Is Boring, Media Are Magnetic" by Raymond Gozzi, Jr.
75th Anniversary Reprint:
"Remembering Don Hayakawa" by Alan R. Hayakawa
"The Empty Eye" by S. I. Hayakawa and Alan R. Hayakawa
"Whatever I Call It, It Is" by Neil Postman
"New Hope for the Technological Society: An Interview with Jacques Ellul" by Berta Sichel
"Perspectives on Our Age: Jacques Ellul Speaks on His Life and Work, by Jacques Ellul. Edited by William H. Vandenburg; translated by Joachim Neugroschel. New York: The Seabury Press, 1981" by Terrance P. Moran
"Media Tribes: Making Sense of Popular Culture, the Mass Media, and Everyday Life in America" by Arthur Asa Berger
"The Electronic Imagination: Requiem for a Narrative" by Brian Donahue
"For the Nonce (Excerpt)" by Phillip Dow
Plus Book Reviews and Dates and Indexes.

Cover Art

The cover of ETC 70:3 is from a painting titled "Earth" by Nicole Wilson.

Click here to view more art by Nicole Wilson.

ETC 70:2 (April 2013) Is Now Available for Download from the IGS Store

Fri, 18 Oct 2013 21:31:25 GMT

Volume 70, Number 2 (April 2013), of the Institute of General Semantics's quarterly journal ETC: A Review of General Semantics is arriving in the mail and is now available for download from the IGS Store in searchable PDF format.

Click here to download ETC 70:2 from the IGS Store.

Table of Contents Preview

"Midlevel Abstracting: An Underserved Zone of General Semantics" by Richard Fiordo
"General Semantics: Understanding Korzybski's Formulations" by Mary P. Lahman
"This Old Sole" by Michael Moore
"General Semantics and Effective Communication" by Geetha Bhasker
"How Just Is Our Justice System?" by Frank J. Scardilli
"Diasporic Creativity as a Non-Aristotelian Form of Communication" by Deepa Mishra
"A Glossary: Usage Abbreviations of Mobile Phone SMS" by Thotapally Anjaneyulu
Metaphors in Action:
"Watching Television Is Like ..." by Raymond Gozzi, Jr.
Probes:
"Food as a Social Medium and a Medium of Culture" by Peter Zhang
75th Anniversary Reprint:
"The Brotherhood of Doctrines" by Alfred Korzybski
"People in Quandaries: And Why They Are There" by Wendell Johnson
"Semantics, General Semantics: An Attempt at Definition" by S. I. Hayakawa
"etcetera" by e.e. cummings
Poems:
"I Know Not ..." by Shipra R. Upadhyay
"She and He" by Darlyne Ibarra
"Criss-cross" by Steven Jacobson
"Homeward" by Steven Jacobson
"The American Flag" by Danny P. Barbare
"Janitor's Winter Poem" by Danny P. Barbare
"Sustenance" by Jane Blanchard
"Hold Out" by Jane Blanchard
"Coupling" by Jane Blanchard
Plus Book Reviews and News and Notes.

Cover Art

The cover of ETC 70:2 is from a painting titled "Mr. Neuro Semantic" by Dom Heffer.

Click here to view more art by Dom Heffer.

Announcing the Inauguration of the Nodal Centre for General Semantics

Sat, 14 Sep 2013 21:28:05 GMT

The scope of the study and research of general semantics in India has been expanded through the opening of a Nodal Centre of Balvant Parekh Centre for General Semantics at Smt Chandibai Himathmal Mansukhani College, Mumbai.

The Centre was inaugurated on September 11, 2013, and it started functioning immediately thereafter. As a starting point, the Centre plans to institute certificate courses for both undergraduate and graduate students on various principles of general semantics.

In addition, the Centre shall conduct other academic programs from time to time on various aspects of general semantics.

Click here to read the inauguration announcement for the Nodal Centre for General Semantics.

New eBook - "To Be or Not: An E-Prime Anthology"

Sun, 30 Jun 2013 21:27:07 GMT

To Be or Not: An E-Prime Anthology, the original compendium of essays edited by D. David Bourland, Jr., and Paul Dennithorne Johnston on the form of English without "be verbs," is now available as a PDF ebook for download from the IGS Store.

About the Book

Examine the verbs of the "to be" family and you find a startling underlying assumption. The words be, been, is, was, am, were, etc., have their logical basis in the idea that things stay the same. The notion of identity -- a thing's absolute sameness with a similar thing or with itself over time -- has confused and corrupted thinking since the days of Aristotle.

Life means change: growth, learning, metamorphosis, decay. Even the apparently changless earth changes, as moving plates push up mountains or split continents apart. Today we often experience rapid social and technological change. Yet our daily language has at its foundation the assumption that things don't change, an assumption that helps us focus and therefore "understand," but also leads us astray when we act as if things haven't changed, and they have. How can we deal with this "two-edged sword" that both helps and hinders us in our daily lives?

E-Prime, a variant of English that eliminates the verbs of the "to be" family, makes us aware of the problem, and offers one solution.

Some of the benefits: lively, concise writing and speaking; clearer, more critical thinking; better communication, evaluation and decision-making.

Purchase the Book

Click here to purchase To Be or Not: An E-Prime Anthology PDF Version in the IGS Store.

Free eBook - "Awareness & Action: A General Semantics Approach to Effective Language Behavior" by Mary P. Lahman

Sun, 16 Jun 2013 21:20:21 GMT

Mary P. Lahman, Ph.D., has recently created Awareness & Action: A General Semantics Approach to Effective Language Behavior, a new ebook available for free download through the IGS Site.

UPDATE: Version 2 of this PDF has been uploaded to the IGS Store on September 7, 2013. Its cover is depicted here.

About the eBook

This 60-page PDF booklet aims at increasing awareness of faulty language behavior and motivating daily action to correct such behavior.

In the first two sections of the text, Dr. Lahman (Professor of Communication Studies at Manchester University) shows how general semantics can be used as a systematic inquiry into language behavior. In the remaining four sections, Dr. Lahman follows with an application of these formulations, including case studies.

Click here to download Awareness & Action: A General Semantics Approach to Effective Language Behavior in the IGS Store.

Introduction
Chapter 1: General Semantics
Chapter 2: Abstraction
Chapter 3: Allness
Chapter 4: Inference-Observation Confusion
Chapter 5: Bypassing
Chapter 6: Differentiation Failures
Conclusion
References by Chapter
Glossary

About the Author

Mary P. Lahman, Ph.D., is Professor of Communication Studies at Manchester University.

Download the eBook

Click here to download Awareness & Action: A General Semantics Approach to Effective Language Behavior in the IGS Store.

The booklet is also redundantly available in the General Semantics Learning Center under Teaching Materials.

Click here to visit the Teaching Materials section of the General Semantics Learning Center.

New eBook - "Communications: The Transfer of Meaning" by Don Fabun

Sun, 16 Jun 2013 21:19:29 GMT

Communications: The Transfer of Meaning, Don Fabun's 1968 book that comes with an instructor's guide and teaches general semantics with vivid illustrations, is now available as a PDF ebook for download from the IGS Store.

About the Book

A creatively illustrated introduction to communication and produced by award-winning editor and author Don Fabun, its brevity makes it an excellent supplement to courses in speech, journalism, language arts, media literacy, etc.

The PDF version comes as a .zip file containing an ebook version suitable for reading on Kindle, Nook, etc., a wide-format version that displays the illustrations as intended to be viewed, and an instructor's guide.

Purchase the Book

Click here to purchase Communications: The Transfer of Meaning PDF Version in the IGS Store.

June 20, 2013 - IGS at the Media Ecology Association Convention

Sun, 16 Jun 2013 21:19:07 GMT

At the 14th Annual Convention of the Media Ecology Association, the Institute of General Semantics is sponsoring a panel presentation on teaching general semantics.

The session is titled “Teaching of General Semantics,” and it is scheduled for Thursday, June 20, 2013, at 2:15-3:30. Panelist include Martin Levinson, Mary Lahman, and Corey Anton.

General Information

The Fourteenth Annual Convention of the Media Ecology Association
"Media Ecology Unplugged"
June 20–23, 2013
Grand Valley State University
Grand Rapids, Michigan
http://media-ecology.org/activities/index.html

IGS Panel

Moderator

Corey Anton, Grand Valley State University

Panel Presenters

Martin H. Levinson, Institute of General Semantics
Mary P. Lahman, Manchester University
Corey Anton, Grand Valley State University

ETC 70:1 (January 2013) Is Now Available for Download from the IGS Store

Sat, 20 Apr 2013 21:18:32 GMT

Volume 70, Number 1 (January 2013), of the Institute of General Semantics's quarterly journal ETC: A Review of General Semantics is arriving in the mail and is now available for download from the IGS Store in searchable PDF format.

Click here to download ETC 70:1 from the IGS Store.

Table of Contents Preview

- "A Brief History of the Institute of General Semantics on Its Diamond Jubilee" by Martin H. Levinson
- "Meta-Indexing the Abstraction of Irony and the Structural Differential" by Terry L. West
- "Why 'General' Semantics" by Martin H. Levinson
- "Some Thoughts on Consciousness of Abstracting, Meaning, and Truth" by Milton Dawes
- "On Errors in Language" by Michael Moore
- "Language and Politics" by Leonard R. N. Ashley
- Metaphors in Action:
  "Sophistic Illustrated: Two Couplets for the Years of the Snake" by Peter Zhang
- "Obituary Notice (Balvant K. Parekh: 1924-2013)" by Prafulla C. Kar
- Poems:
  "Chronomentrophile" by A. J. Huffman
  "Proporational Verse" by K. J. Hannah
  "Piaget's Sagacity" by K. J. Hannah
  "Another Win: Political Bedfellows" by K. J. Hannah
- Plus From the Editor, Book Reviews, and Dates and Indexes.

Cover Art

The cover of ETC 70:1 is a mixed media work titled "Fate" by Dan Moran.

Click here to view more work by Dan Moran.

November 20, 2013 - IGS at the National Communication Association Convention Preconferences

Tue, 26 Feb 2013 22:55:33 GMT

In Washington, DC, at the 99th Annual Convention of the National Communication Association, the Institute of General Semantics will participate in the preconference sessions.

General Information

The 99th Annual Convention of the National Communication Association
"Connections"

Preconference: November 20, 2013
Conference: November 21-24, 2013

Washington, DC
http://www.natcom.org/convention.aspx?id=3139

IGS Panel

Description

PC06: Applied Semantics and Practical Communication across the Disciplines

November 20, 2013
8:00am - 12:00pm

Location: McKinley, Mezzanine Level, Marriott Wardman Park Hotel

This preconference session identifies and explores core concepts that span the field of communication and commonly reach across the curriculum of general education. It emphasizes the centrality of discourse and language, and it will provide attendees with resources for thinking about and teaching broad-based theory fundamental courses or communication theory-based courses across disciplines.

It is designed for both graduate students and professors who would like to deepen their command over fundamental communication concepts and theories and/or are seeking to expand their repertoire of teaching resources.

By bringing together communication scholars whose work integrates various fields and disciplines and by asking them to provide vital materials for attendees, this half-day session promises to make connections that reach across all courses within the discipline of communication and/or across multiple disciplines.

Click here for additional information on the NCA preconferences.

Presenters

Corey Anton, Grand Valley State University
Richard Lanigan, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale
Adeena Karasick, Fordham University
Mary Lahman, Manchester University
Andrew Smith, Edinboro University
Lance Strate, Fordham University
Edward Tywoniak, Saint Mary’s College of California

New Kindle and Nook Formats of IGS Publications

Mon, 26 Nov 2012 22:53:10 GMT

The Institute of General Semantics has released Kindle and Nook formats for several of its titles, and we plan on publishing future works in these electronic formats.

Here is the current list of titles available in each format as of November 26, 2012 January 5, 2013 January 6, 2013 February 23, 2013.

Kindle Format

The following titles are available in Kindle format directly from Amazon.

On the Binding Biases of Time and Other Essays on General Semantics and Media Ecology by Lance Strate
Communication Uncovered: General Semantics and Media Ecology by Corey Anton
Think Smart, Talk Smart: How Scientists Think: A Guide to Effective Communication by Allan Laurence Brooks
Sensible Thinking for Turbulent Times by Martin H. Levinson
In Thought and Action: The Enigmatic Life of S. I. Hayakawa by Gerald Haslam and Janice E. Haslam
More Sensible Thinking by Martin H. Levinson
Korzybski And... edited by Corey Anton and Lance Strate
Selections from Science and Sanity by Alfred Korzybski and edited by Lance Strate

Nook Format

The following titles are available in Nook format directly from Barnes & Noble.

On the Binding Biases of Time and Other Essays on General Semantics and Media Ecology by Lance Strate
Communication Uncovered: General Semantics and Media Ecology by Corey Anton
Think Smart, Talk Smart: How Scientists Think: A Guide to Effective Communication by Allan Laurence Brooks
Sensible Thinking for Turbulent Times by Martin H. Levinson
In Thought and Action: The Enigmatic Life of S. I. Hayakawa by Gerald Haslam and Janice E. Haslam
More Sensible Thinking by Martin H. Levinson
Korzybski And... edited by Corey Anton and Lance Strate
Selections from Science and Sanity by Alfred Korzybski and edited by Lance Strate

Traditional Formats

The books above are also available from the IGS Store in softcover and hardcover formats.

Click here to browse the IGS Store.

New Book - "Korzybski And..." Edited by Corey Anton and Lance Strate

Wed, 21 Nov 2012 22:51:36 GMT

Editors Corey Anton and Lance Strate culled sixteen essays for the long-awaited multidisciplinary volume titled Korzybski And..., which is now available in the IGS Store.

About the Book

In this volume, Corey Anton and Lance Strate have carefully crafted a collection of comparisons of Korzybski's thoughts to other key philosophers and their ideas. Media, semiotics, imagination, rational thought, cultural studies, and cyberculture are only a sample of the many stimulating topics that come to life in this book ... With freshness and vision, this edited collection takes us on a thought-provoking journey connecting us to the essence of Korzybski's contribution. I found it to be a thoroughly enjoyable read.

- Karen Lollar Ph.D.
Chair, Communication Arts and Sciences Metropolitan State University of Denver
Author of The Talk Within: Its Central Role in Communication (2012)

The collection of essays contained within this book represent a gallant and exquisite attempt to backtrack, as well as to sidetrack and track ahead, and show how Alfred Korzybski's enterprise is indeed aligned not only with various strains and traditions in academic thought and scholarship, but with the work of a host of significant theorists from across the disciplines. As such Corey Anton, Lance Strate, and their contributors have done a great service to Korzybski's legacy, and to the continuation and expansion of general semantics as both an applied and a theoretical system. They have positioned Korzybski and his work as a locus, rather than an outlier.

- Thom Gencarelli
Manhattan College

Corey Anton and Lance Strate have assembled a "wild variety" of 16 erudite essays demonstrating the past, present and continuing influence and relevance of Korzybskian general semantics. Academic specialists from diverse fields explore the "connections, intersections, and divergences" between general semantics and assorted topics ranging from phenomenology to psychotherapy to philosophy; from Heinlein to Hayakawa to Heidegger; from matters of time and temporality to the nature of human happiness. Korzybski And... is a collection not to be missed, an example of time-binding at its finest.

- Jacqueline Rudig
IGS Past Vice-President

Click here to purchase Korzybski And... in the IGS Store.

About the Editors

Corey Anton is Professor of Communication Studies at Grand Valley State University and author of dozens of scholarly papers and book chapters, as well as author of the book Communication Uncovered: General Semantics and Media Ecology (2011). His research spans the fields of existential phenomenology, media ecology, semiotics, communicology, the philosophy of communication, and multidisciplinary communication theory.

Lance Strate is Professor of Communication and Media Studies and Director of the Professional Studies in New Media program at Fordham University. He is the author of On the Binding Biases of Time and Other Essays on General Semantics and Media Ecology as well as editor of a number of books on media ecology.

Purchase the Book

Click here to purchase Korzybski And... in the IGS Store.

New Book - "More Sensible Thinking" by Martin H. Levinson

Tue, 20 Nov 2012 22:50:34 GMT

Martin H. Levinson is back with the follow-up to his book Sensible Thinking for Turbulent Times. Titled More Sensible Thinking, the book is now available in the IGS Store.

About the Book

In these times of rapid change and constant upheaval, can we learn to think and communicate more effectively-at home, in school, on the job, and as citizens of the larger world?

This book (like its predecessor Sensible Thinking for Turbulent Times), which is based on the formulations of general semantics, says yes, yes, and yes!

Topics in it include practical ways to improve your thinking ability, emotional self-management, understanding of the media, and analysis of important social issues.

Click here to purchase More Sensible Thinking in the IGS Store.

About the Author

Martin H. Levinson, Ph.D., is the President of the Institute of General Semantics and the author of numerous articles and several books on general semantics and other subjects. His previous book is Brooklyn Boomer: Growing Up in the Fifties (2011).

Purchase the Book

Click here to purchase More Sensible Thinking in the IGS Store.

ETC 69:4 (October 2012) Is Now Available for Download from the IGS Store

Tue, 23 Oct 2012 21:49:51 GMT

Volume 69, Number 4 (October 2012), of the Institute of General Semantics's quarterly journal ETC: A Review of General Semantics is arriving in the mail and is now available for download from the IGS Store in searchable PDF format.

Click here to download ETC 69:4 from the IGS Store.

Table of Contents Preview

"General Semantics, Science, and Medicine: A Quality Approach" by Richard Fiordo
"Who's the Mother" by Bill Haase
"Indexing the Religious Beliefs of America's Founders" by Martin H. Levinson
"Fascism as a Semantic Void into the Meta-Narrative of Rational Modernity" by Alessandro Saluppo
Two Poems:
"Foreclosure" by Peter E. Murphy
"Good Grief" by Peter E. Murphy
"One God" by Ed Tywoniak and Frances Tywoniak
"Objectivity--Does It Exist?" by Mark S. Tucker
"Advanced Thinking: Mathematics, General Semantics ... Ways to Improve Relationships" by Milton Dawes
"Formal Cause, Poiesis, Rhetoric: A Dialogue" by Eric McLuhan and Peter Zhang
"Bindings and Becomings: Korzybski, Deleuze, and Ecological Thinking" by Peter Zhang and Eric Jenkins
Metaphors in Action:
"Two Generation Gaps" by Raymond Gozzi, Jr.
Probes:
"Philosophy How?" by Peter Zhang
Plus From the Editor, Book Reviews, and Dates and Indexes.

Cover Art

The cover of ETC 69:4 is a photograph titled "Sincere Plastic Advertising" by Jeremy Wolff.

Click here to view more work by Jeremy Wolff.

ETC: A Review of General Semantics Welcomes a New Editor

Thu, 13 Sep 2012 21:49:06 GMT

After many years of stellar service, Bill Petkanas has stepped down from his position as editor of the journal ETC: A Review of General Semantics, published by the Institute of General Semantics.

Ed Tywoniak, Associate Professor of Communication and Chair of the department of Communication at Saint Mary's College, will be replacing him starting with the January 2013 issue.

ETC 69:3 (July 2012) Is Now Available for Download from the IGS Store

Wed, 25 Jul 2012 21:48:11 GMT

Volume 69, Number 3 (July 2012), of the Institute of General Semantics's quarterly journal ETC: A Review of General Semantics will be out soon in the mail and is now available for download from the IGS Store in searchable PDF format.

Click here to download ETC 69:3 from the IGS Store.

Table of Contents Preview

"Pivotal Terms in Media Ecology: A Dialogue" by Eric McLuhan and Peter Zhang
"Two Assignments Introducing Studetns to Mapping Problems" by Tim Lyons
"The Meaning of Freedom: Āzādi, Alas!" by K. Narayana Chandran
"Advanced Thinking: Mathematics, General Semantics ... Ways to Improve Relationships" by Milton Dawes
"The Challenges of Denotative and Connotative Meaning for Second-Language Learners" by Youssif Zaghwani Omar
Metaphors in Action:
"Robots and Love" by Raymond Gozzi, Jr.
Probes:
"Numerotherapy and Its Metamessage" by Peter Zhang
Plus Book Reviews.

Cover Art

The cover of ETC 69:3 is a work titled "The Faculties" by Dom Heffer.

Click here to view more art by Dom Heffer.

New eBook - "The Drug Problem: A New View Using the General Semantics Approach" by Martin H. Levinson

Tue, 19 Jun 2012 21:47:27 GMT

The Drug Problem: A New View Using the General Semantics Approach, Martin Levinson's 2002 book that brings the advantages of general semantics to the drug abuse problem is now available as a PDF ebook for download from the IGS Store.

About the Book

Current approaches to the drug problem are not working and almost everyone agrees that more effective solutions are needed. This comprehensive volume offers a dynamic new approach to understanding and solving the drug problem. This text applies the techniques and formulations of general semantics to investigate and make recommendations about various aspects of drug abuse. General semantics, a process problem-solving approach based on the primacy of the scientific method and importance of language as a shaper of thoughts and perceptions, has a proven record of success in problem-solving across a wide variety of disciplines and fields.

Topics examined include American drug history and policy, the legalization issue, drugs and creativity, treatment, and prevention. A chronological overview of drug-taking in human history and a resource guide are provided. One chapter offers an in-depth description of an effective drug abuse prevention model and a program using the model.

Click here to purchase The Drug Problem PDF in the IGS Store.

About the Author

Martin H. Levinson, PhD, is the president of the Institute of General Semantics and vice president of the New York Society for General Semantics. He is the author of numerous articles and several books on general semantics and other subjects. His latest book is Brooklyn Boomer Growing up in the Fifties (2011).

Purchase the Book

Click here to purchase The Drug Problem PDF in the IGS Store. Click here to purchase the hardcover version from Amazon.

ETC 69:2 (April 2012) Is Now Available for Download from the IGS Store

Tue, 15 May 2012 21:46:36 GMT

Volume 69, Number 2 (April 2012), of the Institute of General Semantics's quarterly journal ETC: A Review of General Semantics will be out soon in the mail and is now available for download from the IGS Store in searchable PDF format.

Click here to download ETC 69:2 from the IGS Store.

Table of Contents Preview

"The Place of the Other" by Gary Gumpert and Susan J. Drucker
"Reflections on Writing in the Twenty-First Century and GS Strategies for Teaching It" by Philip Vasallo
"Teaching Writing through General Semantics and General Semantics through Writing: A Stylistic Approach" by Richard Fiordo
"A Difference That Makes a Difference" by Bruce Kodish
"A General Semantics Analysis of the RMS Titanic Disaster" by Martin H. Levinson
"The Language of Scam Spams: Linguistic Features of 'Nigerian Fraud' E-mails" by Deborah Schaffer
"Hidden Divinities" by Michael Moore
"The Rhetorical-Theatrical Sensibility as Equipment for Living" by Peter Zhang, Yi Z, and Xi Yang
"What Is True, and What Is Real, Providing the Non-Aristotelian Tools to Orient You" by Gary M. Jaron
"Meaning in Silence as the Quaker Tradition" by Michael H. Plugh
"Plausible Quotations and Reverse Credibility in Online Vernacular Communities" by Quentin J. Schultze and Randall L. Bytwerk
Metaphors in Action:
"Is the Computer a Communist?" by Raymond Gozzi, Jr.
"Probes: Chiasmus as a Mode of Probing of the Lord and Man" by Peter Zhang
Plus Book Reviews and Dates & Indexes.

Cover Art

The cover of ETC 69:2 is a work titled "Jerusalem Stone" by Kyle Perler.

Click here to view more art by Kyle Perler.

New Book - "Think Smart, Talk Smart" by Allan Laurence Brooks

Wed, 09 May 2012 21:44:52 GMT

Trained engineer and communications expert Allan Laurence Brooks has recently published Think Smart, Talk Smart: How Scientists Think: A Guide to Effective Communication, a new book available in the IGS Store.

About the Book

No one doubts that science underlies every tangible aspect of our lives, but few people apply its systematic style of thinking to improve their communication styles. To get the most out of science, it’s important to understand science as a style of thinking rather than just a forbidding collection of facts and mathematics. Individuals who learn how scientists collect evidence, evaluate facts, and draw conclusions can improve their own thought processes and overcome shortcomings.

Written by a trained engineer and communications expert, this guidebook provides the tools you need to sharpen your thinking skills, hone your communication skills, refine your evaluation of data, and improve your objectivity. You’ll also learn important theories and ways of thinking from scientists and scholars such as Albert Einstein, Aristotle, Marshall McLuhan, Werner Heisenberg, and many others.

By sharing case studies and questioning assumptions, author Allan Laurence Brooks provides a roadmap that allows you to immediately improve your communication with others. Leave obstacles behind and approach life like a scientist with Think Smart, Talk Smart.

Click here to purchase Think Smart, Talk Smart in the IGS Store.

About the Author

Allan Laurence Brooks holds a master's degree in communication studies; he has forty-five years of experience as a graduate engineer. He has taught communications for more than fifteen years and was a member of the English Department of the New York Institute of Technology in Old Westbury, New York. He currently lives in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Purchase the Book

Click here to purchase Think Smart, Talk Smart in the IGS Store.

June 7-10, 2012 - IGS at the Media Ecology Association Convention

Tue, 20 Mar 2012 21:44:26 GMT

At the 13th Annual Convention of the Media Ecology Association, the Institute of General Semantics is sponsoring a panel presentation on the importance of general semantics to more effective human communication.

General Information

The Thirteenth Annual Convention of the Media Ecology Association
"The Crossroads of the Word"
June 7–10, 2012
Manhattan College
Riverdale, New York
http://media-ecology.org/activities/index.html

IGS Panel

Moderator

Lance Strate

Panel Presenters

Corey Anton
Martin H. Levinson

IGS Board Elects Two New Trustees: Edward E. Tywoniak and Kristene A. Doyle

Sat, 17 Mar 2012 21:43:59 GMT

Today, the Board of Trustees of the Institute of General Semantics elected two new trustees: Edward E. Tywoniak and Kristene A. Doyle.

Edward Tywoniak

Edward E. Tywoniak, Ed.D., is an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication, School of Liberal Arts, of Saint Mary’s College of California. Dr. Tywoniak has been a professor of Communication at Saint Mary's College of California for over 30 years, and the upcoming 2012-13 academic year marks his third appointment as Chair of the department of Communication. He currently sits on the Core Curriculum Committee and the Technology Advisory Committee, is a Faculty Fellow for Curriculum and Technology, and is a W. M. Keck Research Fellow and Director of the Digital Studies program within the School of Liberal Arts at Saint Mary's College. Other current board affiliations include membership on the board of directors for the Media Ecology Association, the board of trustees of the School of Applied Theology at the Berkeley Graduate Theology Union, and the board of directors of EBI--a non-profit organization serving the developmentally disabled adult population of the greater San Francisco Bay Area.

Kristene A. Doyle

Kristene A. Doyle, Ph.D., is the Director of the Albert Ellis Institute in New York City. At the Albert Ellis Institute, Dr. Doyle is also a Staff Psychologist, the Director of Clinical Services, the Director of Child and Family Services, and a Training and Development Coordinator. She has been a clinical supervisor for both the childhood clinical track and the school psychology doctoral program at St. John's University since 2000. She received her doctorate in combined clinical and school psychology from Hofstra University in 1999.

Our Board

Click here for the current list of the Institute of General Semantics board of trustees.

ETC 69:1 (January 2012) Is Now Available for Download from the IGS Store

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 22:43:15 GMT

Volume 69, Number 1 (January 2012), of the Institute of General Semantics's quarterly journal ETC: A Review of General Semantics will be out soon in the mail and is now available for download from the IGS Store in searchable PDF format.

Click here to download ETC 69:1 from the IGS Store.

Table of Contents Preview

"Silent Cal and the Invisible Audience: the Sociotechnological Significance of the Presidential Voice" by James Eric (Jay) Black
"Science Fiction Language/Political Reporting: Communicating News via Words from Nowhere Real" by Marleen S. Barr
"No One Saw This Coming: Korzybski's Concerns, Predictions, and Time-Binding Suggestions" by Milton Dawes
"Indexing Africa" by Martin H. Levinson
"Binding Places and Time: Reflections on Fluency in Media Ecology" by Karen Lollar
"Twitter and the New Publicity" by Joseph Faina
"Chronemics: Time-Binding and the Construction of Personal Time" by Tom Bruneau
Metaphors in Action:
"A Music Concert as a Metaphor" by Raymond Gozzi, Jr.
"Probes: Homo Faber" by Peter Zhang
Plus Book Reviews.

Cover Art

The cover of ETC 69:1 is a work titled "Golan Thorns" by Kyle Perler.

Click here to view more art by Kyle Perler.

New Booklet - "A Continuing Education Guide to Teaching General Semantics" by Martin H. Levinson

Tue, 08 Nov 2011 22:56:11 GMT

Martin H. Levinson, Ph.D., has recently created A Continuing Education Guide to Teaching General Semantics, a new booklet available for free download through the IGS Store.

About the Booklet

Debuting at the 59th Alfred Korzybski Memorial Lecture in October 2011 as a gift to registrants, the 47-page booklet A Continuing Education Guide to Teaching General Semantics offers guidance for teachers interested in creating a course for students of general semantics.

Originally available in hard copy, A Continuing Education Guide to Teaching General Semantics is now available as a PDF.

Click here to download A Continuing Education Guide to Teaching General Semantics in the IGS Store.

Lesson I: Science-Related Ideas for Effective Communication and Problem-Solving
Lesson II: Mental Maps—The Way to Better Planning and Prediction
Lesson III: Extensional and Intensional Orientations—How Real is Real?
Lesson IV: Non-Allness—No One Can Know All there is to Know About Anything
Lesson V: "Indexing"—Getting Closer to What is Really Going On
Lesson VI: "Dating"—We Live in a Changing World
Lesson VII: Two-Valued Orientations—The Limitations of Our "Either-Or" Language
Lesson VIII: Distinguishing Facts from Inferences—Language and Reality
Lesson IX: Nonverbal Communication—The Semantics of Silence
Lesson X: Signal-Symbol Reactions—Keeping Your Cool
Lesson XI: Increasing Semantics Awareness—The Structural Differential
Lesson XII: Asking Constructive Questions—Ones that Show an Extensional Orientation

About the Author

Martin H. Levinson, Ph.D., is the President of the Institute of General Semantics and the author of numerous articles and several books on general semantics and other subjects. His latest book is Brooklyn Boomer: Growing Up in the Fifties (2011).

Download the Booklet

Click here to download A Continuing Education Guide to Teaching General Semantics in the IGS Store.

The booklet is also redundantly available in the General Semantics Learning Center under Teaching Materials.

Click here to visit the Teaching Materials section of the General Semantics Learning Center.

ETC 68:4 (October 2011) Is Now Available for Download from the IGS Store

Mon, 07 Nov 2011 23:02:00 GMT

Volume 68, Number 4 (October 2011), of the Institute of General Semantics's quarterly journal ETC: A Review of General Semantics will be out soon in the mail and is now available for download from the IGS Store in searchable PDF format.

Click here to download ETC 68:4 from the IGS Store.

Table of Contents Preview

"The Spectacled Society: General Semantics and a Painters Process" by Dom Heffer
"Corporate Identity Metaphor as Constitutive Discourse in Miniature: The Case of New China Life" by Peter Zhang
"Appreciative Inquiry + General Semantics → IFD Disease Resistance" by Mary P. Lahman
Poem:
"Townsend Hell vs. Townsend Hall" by Lynn Chih-Ning Chang
"My Culture Shock Experience" by Lynn Chih-Ning Chang
Poem:
"For A.K." by Joseph Gold
"Memorandum" by Bill Petkanas
Five Poems:
"Words Fail" by Heather Statz
"The Right Question" by Heather Statz
"Doublespeak" by Heather Statz
"My Doublespeak" by Heather Statz
"In a Sentence" by Heather Statz
"Reading Korzybski through Nietzsche" by Zhenbin Sun
"Language Power: Korzybski's Interdisciplinary Methodology" by Blake Victor Seidenshaw
"'She Just Called You Honey': My Quandary at Waffle House" by Brett Lunceford
"The Oxford English Dictionary: A Time-Binding Marvel" by Martin H. Levinson
"'The Map Is Not the Territory It Represents': Consequences on the Evaluation-Intervention Process" by Gérard Lavoie
"The Teacher as Cultural Worker: Overlapping Insights from Sociology and General Semantics" by Mary Bachaspatimayum
Metaphors in Action:
"Is the Universe Information?" by Raymond Gozzi, Jr.
Plus Book Reviews.

Cover Art

The cover of ETC 68:4 is a work titled "Society of the Spectacles II: The Sequel—in 4D!" by Dom Heffer.

Click here to view more art by Dom Heffer.

New Book - "In Thought and Action: The Enigmatic Life of S. I. Hayakawa" by Gerald & Janice Haslam

Sat, 22 Oct 2011 22:01:14 GMT

Authors Gerald & Janice Haslam have recently published In Thought and Action: The Enigmatic Life of S. I. Hayakawa, a new book available through the IGS Store.

About the Book

This intimate and detailed biography of the man whose popular book Language in Thought and Action is used as an introduction to general semantics for high-school and college students today draws on interviews with friends and family members, as well as S. I. Hayakawa’s own papers and journals, to bring this controversial and fascinating figure to life.

He was an enigma to colleagues as well as adversaries, a Republican senator who consistently bucked his party’s ideals with his support of the women’s movement, abortion rights, and even Ronald Reagan’s search for a female running mate. The son of Japanese immigrants, born and raised in Canada before moving to the United States, Hayakawa emerges here as a complex and complicated figure. His blend of heritage, politics, artistic inclination, and intellectual achievement makes him quintessentially American.

Click here to purchase In Thought and Action: The Enigmatic Life of S. I. Hayakawa in the IGS Store.

About the Authors

Gerald W. Haslam is a professor emeritus of English at Sonoma State University and the author and editor of numerous books, including Workin’ Man Blues: Country Music in California, the novel Straight White Male, and the anthology Many Californias: Literature from the Golden State.

Janice E. Haslam is the coauthor, with Gerald W. Haslam, of the fiction collection Manuel and the Madman and An Instructor's Guide to Many Californias.

Reviews

In Thought and Action: The Enigmatic Life of S. I. Hayakawa traces the fascinating life of an iconic American writer, teacher, politician, and family man. In the process, authors Gerald W. Haslam and Janice E. Haslam tell us a lot about the culture wars of the 20th century—and of American identity itself. The authors’ many fans will be delighted by this definitive biography, as will students, scholars, and teachers of ethnic studies, California history, and American politics.

—Jonah Raskin
Author of American Scream: Allen Ginsberg’s “Howl"
and the Making of the Beat Generation

Gerald and Janice Haslam are the perfect writers for this complete and superbly researched biography of S.I. Hayakawa, the teacher, poet, scholar, writer, flamboyant college president and Senator from California, who was always seeking more, not just for fame but for other, more personal reasons. Only the Haslams, with their unique perspectives, could know and tell this story.

—Clark S. Sturges
Author of Dr. Dave: A Profile of David E. Smith, MD,
founder of the Haight Ashbury Free Clinics

Purchase the Book

Click here to purchase In Thought and Action: The Enigmatic Life of S. I. Hayakawa in the IGS Store.

"General Semantics and Media Ethics" by Martin H. Levinson Posted on Media Ethics Magazine Website

Fri, 17 Jun 2011 22:00:52 GMT

IGS President Martin H. Levinson's article titled "General Semantics and Media Ethics"--based on a chapter in John C. Merrill's book Journalism Ethics titled "Korzybski to the Rescue"--appears on Media Ethics online, the website for the magazine serving mass communications ethics.

Click here to read the article by Martin H. Levinson.

E-Prime Profiled in The Guardian

Sat, 16 Jan 2010 23:00:33 GMT

Writer Oliver Burkeman celebrates and discusses D. David Bourland, Jr., and his famous contribution to general semantics, E-Prime ("English without be-verbs"), in an article in the January 16, 2010, edition of UK's The Guardian.

Have a read:

"This column will change your life: To be or not to be…"

Alfred Korzybski Mentioned in the New York Times Magazine

Sat, 11 Apr 2009 22:00:03 GMT

Writer William Safire is no stranger to general semantics. The author of the "On Language" column for the New York Times Magazine for decades, in his April 12, 2009 entry (p. 14) makes reference to Alfred Korzybski in discussing the new secretary of homeland security Janet Napolitano's use of the euphemism man-caused disaster in place of terrorism.

Noting that "Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan commented: 'Ah. Well, this is only a nuance, but her use of language is a man-caused disaster,'" Safire went on to remark that, "Noonan makes an excellent point of light: a word is not the thing itself. (That was the message of the general semanticist Alfred Korzybski, famous for 'a map is not the territory.') Renaming terrorism 'man-caused disaster' does not begin to deal with the real thing that is terrorism."

Politics aside, we salute Bill Safire for his consciousness of abstracting!

Read the essay online >>

IGS Featured on Connecticut Public Radio

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 22:59:42 GMT

On November 11, 2008, Executive Director Lance Strate, ETC Editor-in-Chief Bill Petkanas, and Douglas Rushkoff were guests on the radio show Where We Live on WNPR.

Click here to listen to an archived version of the hour-long show, plus to read the teaser for the episode.

The Institute of General Semantics Visits India

Mon, 31 Dec 2007 22:57:37 GMT

Thanks to underwriting from IGS member Mr. B.K. Parekh, Chairman of Pidilite Industries Ltd, two seasoned general semantics instructors, Andrea Johnson and Steve Stockdale, recently returned from an 18-day trip to India to introduce general semantics. They gave seminars and workshops at seven different venues in Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Anand, and Vadodara, to a total audience of about 350 individuals.

Video

In the following video, Steve Stockdale presents a multimedia montage of images from the trip to India.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rd-l8Y2-MyM

News Articles

Daily News & Analysis Article

Read an account of one presentation as printed in the daily newspaper DNA (Daily News & Analysis), November 20, 2007, edition.

Click here to read the Daily News & Analysis article.

Gujarati Language Article

The following text is an English translation of an original Gujarati language news article from November 6, 2007.

6 November 2007
Gujurat, India

Chirantana Bhatt Reporting (translation by Professor Sitanshu Yashchandra)

NATIONAL WORKSHOP ON GENERAL SEMANTICS

General Semantics is a topic somewhat unfamiliar to the common man, but it concerns something that plays a very significant role in our daily life. The twelfth National Workshop of the Forum for Contemporary Theory, titled "Cognitive Language Skills for Twenty First Century," discussed extensively details of General Semantics.

Dr. Andrea Johnson, President of the Institute of General Semantics, U.S.A., and Dr Steven Stockdale, its Executive Director, conducted the workshop.

This distinguished National Workshop was planned and organized by Mr. Balvant K. Parekh, Chairman of the Pidilite Industries, India, and President of the Triveni Kalyan Foundation. Speaking to Divya Bhaskar, Mr Balvant Parekh said that he had first read about General Semantics, some twenty-five years back, in the journal, "etc.". General Semantics, Mr. Balvant Parekh said, has been useful to him in every aspect of life, personal, social and professional. "In my professional work within my industry, I had noticed that my employees would, at times, understand what I had told them quite differently from what I intended to convey. General Semantics was useful at such times in solving problems of communication."

Dr. Steven Stockdale, Executive Director of the Institute of General Semantics, told Divya Bhaskar that General Semantics is of key importance in our keeping away from the conflicts, which result from unfulfilled expectations of our subconscious arising out of multiple possibilities before it. General Semantics enables us to keep away from generalizations and to avoid evaluating situations through prejudices."

Talking to Divya Bhaskar, Dr Andrea Johnson, President, said, "General Semantics is not limited strictly to academic reading and information. Only when it is assimilated into life through meditative processes, could it be put into action. General Semantic enables us to avoid coming under undue influence of any single factor and to examine all the different aspects of a situation in order to reach a proper conclusion. People who can question themselves are more readily able to grasp this subject. They are then able to understand that language is a symbolic expression, not a final verdict."

Click here to view the original Gujarati source.

Institute of General Semantics Publications

March Podcast Episode

February Podcast Episode

2025 AKML & Symposium Videos Now Available

January Podcast Episode

December Podcast Episode

November Podcast Episode

AKML and Symposium Slideshow

October Podcast Episode

September Podcast Episode

August Podcast Episode

July Podcast Episode

June Podcast Episode

Sensible Thinking 3 by Martin H. Levinson Now Available

IGS President Lance Strate on Tristan Harris's podcast Your Undivided Attention

IGS President Lance Strate Interviewed on His New IGS Book

This is Not A Diagram: Applying General Semantics to Contemporary Arts Pedagogy

IGS Trustee & Past President Martin Levinson Quoted in Baron's

IGS Trustee Chris Meyer Interviewed in Edge Magazine

Images from the 2024 Balvant Parekh Memorial Lecture

IGS Logo Lapel Pin

2024 IGS Award Winners

Images from Our 2024 Summer Seminar in London

Science and Sanity Session at MEA 2024

Images from Our IGS Session at the International Communication Association Meeting

Videos from This Year's Online Symposium Now Available on YouTube

Images from the 2024 MEA Convention

To the World Through Languages

Some Images from Our Film Screening Event

ETC 80:4 (2023) Is Now Available for Download from the IGS Store

Table Of Contents

ETC 80:3 (2023) Is Now Available for Download from the IGS Store

Table of Contents

6th Edition of Science & Sanity in 3 Formats Now On Sale

A.Eye Candy by Corey Anton Now Available

To order A.Eye Candy form the IGS store, click here.

ETC 80:2 (2023) Is Now Available for Download from the IGS Store

Table of Contents

Videos from our Online Symposium Now Available on YouTube

ETC 80:1 (2023) Is Now Available for Download from the IGS Store

Table of Contents

Images from Our IGS Session at the ICA Conference in Toronto

Images from Our April 25th Screening of The Frontier Gandhi

Film Screening: The Frontier Gandhi 4/25 NYC

Double Issue ETC 79:3-4 (2022) Is Now Available for Download from the IGS Store

Table of Contents Preview

Double Issue ETC 79:1-2 (2022) Is Now Available for Download from the IGS Store

Table of Contents Preview

New IGS Publication: Concerning Communication by Lance Strate

2022 S.I. Hayakawa Book Prize Goes to Christine Nystrom's The Genes of Culture: Towards a Theory of Symbols, Media, and Meaning

New IGS Publication: Formal Cause in Marshall McLuhan's Thinking: An Aristotelian Perspective by Laura Trujillo Liñán

Available from most online booksellers or click here to purchase via the IGS bookstore

New IGS Publication: Dear Fellow Time-Binder: Letters on General Semantics by Christopher Mayer

New IGS Publication: Massaging the Medium: Seven Pechakuchas by Adeena Karasick

Double Issue ETC 78:3-4 (2021) Is Now Available for Download from the IGS Store

Table of Contents Preview

Double Issue ETC 78:1-2 (2021) Is Now Available for Download from the IGS Store

Table of Contents Preview

Cover Art

Newly Expanded Audio Collection: The 1948 Summer Seminar-Workshop, Featuring More Alfred Korzybski and Irving J. Lee Lectures, Douglas Kelley, Irving, J. Lee, Harry Holtzman, and More

Newly Expanded Audio Collection: The 1948 Summer Seminar-Workshop, Featuring More Alfred Korzybski and Irving J. Lee Lectures, Douglas Kelley, Irving, J. Lee, Harry Holtzman, and More

Trustee Dom Heffer on Alfred Korzybski in the Hilaritas Podcast

Videos from the 69th AKML & Two-Day General Semantics Symposium

New Book - "Signal Reactions and Other Poems" by Martin H. Levinson, with Photography by Katherine Liepe-Levinson

About the Book

Double Issue ETC 77:3-4 (2020) Is Now Available for Download from the IGS Store

Table of Contents Preview

Cover Art

Double Issue ETC 77:1-2 (2020) Is Now Available for Download from the IGS Store

Table of Contents Preview

Cover Art

Save the Dates: October 1-3, 2021 - The 69th Alfred Korzybski Memorial Lecture & Two-Day General Semantics Symposium

About the Speaker

About the AKML

About General Semantics

The Institute of General Semantics Approves Its First 21st Century Fellows

Double Issue ETC 76:3-4 (2019) Is Now Available for Download from the IGS Store

Table of Contents Preview

Cover Art

Welcome Letter from President Lance Strate (February 2021)