WARNING: These are not the original slides. Original presentation was given in Lithuanian language and you can find slides here: https://www.slideshare.net/justinasbeinorius/praneimo-emlapis-nra-teritorija-vadas-general-semantics-skaidrs Speaker: Justinas Beinorius Date: 2020-02-06 Location: Kuzmickis library, Kaunas

1. General Semantics
The map is not the territory.
Speaker: Justinas Beinorius
Date: 2020, February 06
Location: Kuzmickis library, Kaunas

2. I’m – blogger, software developer.
2008 m. 2009 m.

3. Why we are here?

4. 1. Evaluation systems (30 min.)
2. General Semantics history (5 min.)
3. General Semantics formulations (25 min.)
4. General Semantics application (10 min.)
Plan

5. The world is not what it seems.

6. Conflict
A is B! A is not B!

7. “Gimbal Lock”

8. What’s normal?

9. Philip Zimbardo (1969)

10. Semantic shock

11. “Paris syndrome”
Paris syndrome is a condition exhibited by some individuals when visiting or going on
vacation to Paris, as a result of extreme shock at discovering that Paris is different from their
expectations. (source: Wikipedia)

12. x x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
Situations outside normality

14. t1 t2 t3 t4
A B C
Robot evaluates

15. t1 t2 t3 t4
A B C
Robot evaluates

16. A B C
A B C
t1 t2 t3 t4
Robot evaluates

17. Lost in translation.

18. Dr. Albert Ellis
RATIONAL EMOTIVE BEHAVIOR THERAPY
1. I MUST do well and win the approval of others or else I am no
good.
2. Other people MUST do "the right thing" or else they are no good
and deserve to be punished.
3. Life MUST be easy, without discomfort or inconvenience.

19. Aristotelian vs non-Aristotelian
●
A=B or A≠B
●
A can’t be both B and not B
●
No asymmetries allowed. Impossible to
solve conflicts.
●
Static.
●
Desire to be “right”.
●
Absolutisms.
●
Thinking in categories.
●
One truth.
●
A=B or A≠B depending on context. Some
contexts allow A to be both B and not B.
●
Asymmetries allowed. Resolution of
conflict is possible.
●
Dynamic.
●
Desire to understand and be understood.
●
Relational thinking.
●
Thinking in degrees.
●
Infinite truths.

20. Yes, but it’s much more also.
A chair is not just a chair.
A chair is a chair.
Aristotelian definition
non-Aristotelian extension

21. Olweus bullying map

22. ES1 ES2 ES3
Evaluating evaluation systems

23. Revision of thinking
month
revision

24. Intuition is wrong.
https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/lunar/apollo_15_feather_drop.html

25. General Semantics
Historical perspective

26. ●
”Manhood of humanity” (1921)
●
”Science and Sanity” (1933)
Alfreda Korzybski
1879-1950

28. Language and reality

29. Infinite levels of abstraction ∞
lake water ocean water swamp water ...
salty water
non-drinkable water
2H2O2
greenish ...
L1
L2
L3
L4

30. Politicians abuse abstractions.
A new tax system...

31. “wealth”
“asset”
“farm-assets”
“livestock”
“cow”
“Bessie”
Hayakawa ladder of abstraction

32. Elementalism
I say what I want.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZXgjR9INsA

33. Tragic “FOUR PESTS“ program in China (1958)
●
Sparrows
●
Rats
●
Flies
●
Mosquitoes

34. Tools fight elementalism
●
Pair words with hyphens:
– space-time
– sparrow-grasshopper
– ...
●
Use quotes
”pest”
”social problem”
”crime”

35. The map is not the territory.
Map / Territory Language / Reality
The map is not the territory. Language is not identical to what it
represents: “The world is not a
thing.”
The map does not have all the
territory.
Language leaves particulars of
non-verbal realities.
The map is self-reflexive. We can talk about talking.

36. Some people are experts in their
field and they “know the map”.

38. The world
is not what it
seems.

40. LONDON
PARIS
MOSCOW TOKYO

41. T
LONDON
PARIS
MOSCOW TOKYO

42. LONDON, PARIS, MOSCOW, TOKYO

43. EGYPT, PORTUGAL, COLOMBIA, MYANMAR, BANGLADESH
List of countries visited by Pope Francis in 2017.

44. Structural
Differential

45. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMO1Qx1Rtrg&t=1s

46. Event level

47. Object level

48. Label level

49. Description level

50. I. Dictionary definitions are “far away” from realities we live in.
II. Extensional definitions are closer to reality and change depending on non-verbal facts.

51. Inference levels

52. ETC.
Inferences transform reality.

53. Semantic environments as environments.
“Some cars are flying cars.”

54. Too wide a definition.
“All cars are flying cars”

55. Too narrow a definition.
“Non of the cars are flying cars”

56. Moving to extensional definitions
“Some cars are flying cars when they do fly.”

57. Indexes
Uniqueness John1 John2 Johnn+1
Time and
date
John2001 John2006 Johnt+1
Context Johnwork Johnhome Johnxyz
John1 ≠ John2
John2001 ≠ John2006
Johnwork ≠ Johnhome

58. Indexes
Uniqueness Apple1 Apple2 Applen+1
Time and
date
Appleyesterday Appletoday Applet+1
Context Appletree Applesupermarket Applexyz
Apple1 ≠ Apple2
Appleyesterday ≠ Appletoday
Appletree ≠ Applesupermarket

59. Charlie Chaplin: “Life is a tragedy when seen in close-up,
but a comedy in long-shot“

60. Mimoza (lot. mimosa pudica)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnsUoywSn-g

61. M. Gagliano experiment with Mimosa
●
Mimosa pudica flowers are sensitive to touch.
●
Flower leaves closes upon stimulus.
●
M. Gagliano gives a shock for flower by dropping them with
special devices down.
●
Flower soon “learns” that fall is not dangerous.
●
Even a month later flower “remembers” drop not
dangerous and does not close her leaves.

62. “Pavlov flowers“: pairing light (US) with wind (CS)
=

63. B.F. Skinner rats and Pavlov dogs

64. Commercialism

65. WIGO (What Is Going On)

66. Conciousness fo abstraction
remembering of particulars left out
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etUejYb48BE

67. Thank you!
Good bye.
My email: justinasbeinorius@protonmail.ch

68. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMfPBtm9CWGswAXohT5MFyQ - Linas Kojala interview photo
https://www.youtube.com/user/InstituteofGS - video of General Semantics seminar 1948
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jacobwhittaker/439046462/sizes/c/ - magnifying glass photo
https://www.elitereaders.com/ - kid with sparrows black & white photo
https://fcit.usf.edu/matrix/project/robot-81-janitor-robot/ – yellow robot
https://www.flickr.com/photos/50415738@N04 – James Bond car museum photos
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Spy_Who_Loved_Me_(film) - James Bond movie scene
http://korzybskifiles.blogspot.com/ --newspaper of Korzybski and his wife
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Korzybski -- Korzybski photo
https://cszto.blogspot.com/2016/07/ – Nike ad
Sources
(1/2)

69. https://andrabotean.com/a-little-trick-with-a-huge-effect-in-negotiations/ – handshake illustration
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Guide_in_the_art_museum.jpg – women in museum
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:CMS_Higgs-event.jpg – SD event level illustration
https://www.facebook.com/KurkLietuvai/ – photo following Linas Kojala slide
https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=15/54.7005/25.2409 – Vilnius map
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Airquotes.gif – airquotes in covering elementalism
https://www.bepatyciu.lt/media/files/downloadable/konf_pranesimai_lt.pdf – Olweus bullying map 1
https://www.herok12.com/blog/how-districts-handle-bullying – Olweaus bullying map 2
http://albertellis.org/about-albert-ellis-phd/about-aei/beautiful-al-portrait/ – Albert Ellis photo
https://medium.com/@social_archi/broken-windows-theory-313dfc7ec3c4 – newspaper covering Philip Zimbardo experiment
https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2014/apr/10/truman-show-tv-series – Jim Carey movie scene
http://www.nejau.net/fotoreportazas-tnklas – my photo (2009)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/21973811@N07/2391106502 – my photo (2008)
Books on General Semantics:
Gad Horozitz “Radical book of General Semantics”
Bruce Kodish “Korzybski: A biography”
Alfred Korzybksi “Science & Sanity”
S. I. Hayakawa “Language in thought and action”
Sources
(2/2)