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!
