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:

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:

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:

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:

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.).

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.

Table Of Contents

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

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.

Table of Contents

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

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. 

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.