Into Hell?

I've figured that American TV reminds me of Twitter. Twitter, as most people that are half-way web savvy would be familiar with is the name of a micro-blogging service that some people regard as useless, has too much content to digest at any one time and seldom carries any meaningful discourse across its spontaneously fabricated space and time.*

Watching American TV, as a whole entity in its environment, doesn't seem to want to inform or even entertain as a passive medium or metaphor, but to act as a constant conversation with its audience, the language of which can be picked up by virtually anyone; even a "foreigner" such as myself.

Insofar that television shows are like Twitter, shows - be it sitcom, reality or drama - are like short bursts of narrative broken up by advertising, much like Twitter (if you've ever followed bots or marketing "gurus" you'll know what I mean.) Shows are sometimes also forced to extend the conversation to other mediums, such as the internet - the show itself does not wish to cease talking; however it cannot talk to its audience in a vacuum, obviously. Much like a ubiquitous bit.ly link, more conversation can be elicited elsewhere, at the discretion of the viewer. Having "special guests" from other TV programs, films, popular culture or music, etc. can be likened to the original "RT" or "follow friday"; promoting oneself vicariously through the pull-factor of a more popular trend or conversation.

Of course, the more popular a show/tweeter is, the likelihood of your participation in the conversation decreases dramatically. Having that said, the relationship doesn't have to be reciprocal; it just has to exist. When Television was first encountered by publics at large, it was handily branded as vacuous or useless. Now we cannot imagine living without it. Perhaps Facebook et. al. shall become just as indispensable as time wears on?

*Look for reference to "thanksgiving dinner"

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Calling America (Awesome)

I've only spent about three days in the States so far, but it feels like weeks. Its like being at home almost but the food tastes about ten times better (yet about 100 times worse for you) and things, at least on the surface, appear to be awesome. Take Wal-Mart for instance. Its analogous to a massive amalgamation of a Big W, Safeway and Dick Smith Electronics under one roof, and every product sold seems to be about 60% of what I would pay back home. All perfectly well and good, except Elyse is telling me its completely evil.

But what isn't evil is the wide spaces in the car parks. Seriously Australia. Get your fucking act together in the parking spaces department. Opening a door 10cm to get out is not fucking acceptable!!!

Once I get my fucking luggage back (if it ever comes back) its possible my rage will have subsided enough to update with something substantial. Oh, and pictures of me and Rich Ward at the Aerosmith/ZZ Top concert. Who seriously, is the most awesome, nicest guy on the face of the Earth. They should put that in his Wikipedia page. Because it's god damn true. I love you, Rich Ward. Seriously. Please be my new BFF.

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The 1st Meeting of the AGS, Melbourne Chapter

Last night marked the first informal gathering of the Australian General Semantics Society in Melbourne, led by Chairman Laurie Cox (celebrating his 91st birthday!) and President Robert James. Although we only numbered six, I found it to be an inspiring and enlightening discussion of GS concepts and philosophies from both the academic and practical sides of the discipline. What follows is a brief summary of our talks.

Towards Time-Binding Ethics
An element of GS that I have neglected in my own studies is that of time-binding, or "the transmission of knowledge and abstractions through time which are accreted in cultures" as Korzybski defined it. More simply, when must one "time-bind", as in pass facts over to others and how can it be achieved? Laurie described his "mission" to time-bind as effectively as possible, although in some cases it may not be prudent to do so. (i.e., trying to surprise someone for a birthday - as we did with Laurie with a special cupcake for him) We also discussed how time-binding is expanded by blogging and social media as it prevents time-binding in isolation; diaries and personal writings usually cast aside and forgotten.

Revising the Structural Differential
Laurie showed great delight in revealing that he had simplified his own understanding of the Structural Differential to be able to explain it to a French girl a few nights prior. Going through the reversal of order and the ability for one versed in GS to be conscious of abstracting on multiple levels at once - something I tried once the meeting concluded myself. He emphasized the "sensory impact" level and the "unknowable" (or rather, indescribable) "Reality" of the outside world, mediated by our senses. We also discussed differences between descriptions, inferences and abstractions and how we could also apply this simple informal GS training to children of a primary school age and to emphasize that GS can be learned and applied by all; that a process must begin to make learning GS appealing to all people.

GS and Personal Relationships
Following abstracting, we were then told a story of how GS improves mental well-being and communication between people; Robert and Phil (?) who was also in attendance would sometimes get into disagreements, but using the Null-A principle of "non-allness" made arguments more workable - moving away from absolutist blaming and shaming ("You are always such an idiot") to expressing (semantic) reactions about immediate situations ("I feel angry at what you have done since I don't think it was appropriate, etc.") to find a workable solution. The importance of "etc." to remind oneself that not everything about an external event can be completely described.

Non-Aristotelian Orientation and Heisenberg
Towards the end of the discussion we hit upon the "World of Null-A" (also the title of the A. E. van Vogt novels), the works of science fiction that fellow member Earl found GS through. We talked briefly about replacing "absolutisms" with probabilities in our every day life and language - "this will always" to "this will most likely", etc. similar to the "sombunall" (some but not all) term coined by Robert Anton Wilson. Laurie also hit upon an often overlooked similarity of GS with the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle (as GS approaches are usually compared to the classical scientific method; observe-hypothesize-test-revise) - that its premise of "properties that are not known with precision must be described by probabilities" applied to our approach to life.

I found the discussions highly stimulating and I hope to attend similar gatherings, either in Australia or overseas. Thanks to all that attended and for organizing the meeting!

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