General semantics on the Internet.

What do you think of when you think of general semantics? Alfred Korzybski? Science and Sanity? IGS? ISGS? ETC? If I stick with E-Prime, I can avoid telling you what gs 'is'. (Probably helpful for all of us.) But whatever gs 'is', you can find it- abstracted in a multiplicity of aspects, applications, and interpretations - throughout the internet.

Mapping the Territory, and Usage Conventions

Since some of you may have escaped (so far) serious exposure to the Invasive Internet Bug, I'll provide a few guidelines and brief explanations of terms before we proceed.

Your computer will almost certainly have at least one internet "browser" program among its software. Whatever browser you use to access the internet will provide a place for you to type the "address" of the site you want to reach.

The URL of an internet site refers to this unique address - its "Uniform Resource Locator:" One particular page of information on one of the millions of interlinked computers which together comprise the internet.

The URL usually takes the form of "http://www.site-name.domain-name-and/or-country-abbreviation," with other modifiers as required.

You can navigate within a site by modifying the URL that you've started with. Let's say that I refer you to Earl Hautala and Paul Johnston's "Mini-Mini Course on General Semantics" at <http://www.crl.com/~isgs/toolbgin.htm>. Now let's say that, having drunk your fill from that Mini-bar of Knowledge, you want to look around the ISGS site. Move your cursor to the end of the URL that got you there. Then, character by character, delete a section or "phrase" of characters. Hit "enter," and see where it takes you. With some practice, you'll find that you can work your way back up the directory of files on any site, and finally arrive at the site's "home page."

Following a common convention, I'll delimit web site addresses here by using what my wife Adriana (the big-time computer pro) and her fellow consultants have labeled Chicken Beaks. (Hey: I don't make the news. I just report it.) You don't include these when typing in the URL - they simply provide a recognizable beginning and end for what can sometimes look like a series of pretty odd and 'meaningless' symbols. Herewith, between the quotation marks, the chicken beaks:"<and>"

The search for tilde. Speaking of symbols, this one - used by ISGS and ESGS, for instance - seems to migrate from key to key, depending on the keyboard accompanying various computers. You may have to search for it. I found mine lurking above another accent mark, to the right of my space bar. On other systems, I've also discovered it among the top row of keys. For the tilde-impaired, it looks like this:" - ".

When you can't get there from here: If you have difficulty reaching any of these addresses, consider first that you may have missed something when you entered the URL. Remember to date: Processes evolve rapidly on the internet, and some addresses may simply have changed in minor or major ways. At the time of this writing, however, each of the URLs provided does work (for me, with my machine, etc.), as written here.

Keep in mind, too, that the process of printing this article in ETC represents several orders of abstracting, and that errors can occur during that process. (This would mean, of course, that if the URLs don't work for you, you should really talk to The Editors.)

And finally: If you'd like a copy of this epic work in digital form - so that you can simply cut-and-paste each address, and then blame me for whatever doesn't work - just e-mail me at <[e-mail]>.

Web Sites of GS Organizations

The International Society for General Semantics maintains one of the 'official' gs web sites at <http://www.crl.com/~isgs/isgshome.htm@>. Here you can find several articles about general semantics, a list of publications pertinent to gs, Bob Wanderer's classic compilation of general semantics 'definitions', and other relevant materials. Don't overlook the "Author Index" link at the bottom of the first page. It will take you to a number of articles about gs, and to some of Paul Johnston's gs science fiction stories.

At some point in the future, ISGS will relocate its site to a new address: <http://www.generalsemantics.org>. In the meantime, anyone who happens upon that URL should find a redirection to the current ISCS web address.

The Institute of General Semantics maintains an extensive web site at <http://www.general-semantics.org>, with papers on Korzybski and general semantics, books and materials for sale, and information on the training programs provided by the Institute. You'll also find here a history of the Institute and of gs, photographs of influential general semantics authors, and more.

The European Society for General Semantics has sites in English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish. You can access the English language site at <http://www710.univ-lyon1.fr/~fouet/gs/uk/gshome.htm>. Since these pages provide a number of resources and interesting articles not replicated on the IGS and ISGS sites, you should find them well worth visiting.

NETworking

Earlier this year, I led an effort to increase the listings of and references to general semantics on the internet. Literally hundreds of 'places' exist where one can record information for retrieval by another internet user engaged in a search for material. Even if you've just begun to explore the internet, these various types of "directories," "search engines" and other resources will quickly become familiar to you.

During the project, I listed ISGS and IGS with resources like CitySurf, the Vegas Pages, the DC Registry, and CAN-Link (Canada). I brought gs to ilse Nederland, Anzwers (Australia and New Zealand), the Chinese Web Directory, and the Pleiades Women's Business Directory. (I just couldn't find a good interstellar Men's Directory.) I listed gs sites in specialized directories, from Achoo Healthcare to BigFoot to CollegeNET to HotBot to Nerd World to WhoWhere to REX.

I started small, and worked up: From Ralph's Pretty Good Search Engine (really), to A Village square, to A Center For All Collegiate Information, to Best New York Web Sites, to the Internet Road Kill Award Lists (hey, why not?), to America's Best, to EuroSeek, to Galaxy, - to G.O.D.

In the course of the project, I registered the ISGS and IGS sites with every major search engine and directory on the web. I also placed brief descriptions of general semantics, and invitations to visit both gs sites, on 66 somehow-relevant Usenet newsgroups. (Kind of like e-mail lists, but not quite.) Eventually I developed almost seven hundred new connections between what goes on out there, and the sites maintained by IGS and ISGS.

Web Sites of Individuals

A number of individuals have made major contributions toward the promulgation of general semantics information through their own web sites. Credit for pioneering gs on the internet goes to Craig Presson, who I believe created the first gs web presence (in 1994), and to John McPherson, who developed the second gs site, in 1995.

For Craig's historic site, go to <http://www.bhm.tis.net/~fcp/gs.html>. It contains an introduction to general semantics, a bibliography, articles, and links to several other interesting sites.

You can reach John's outstanding site at <ftp://lumina.ucsd.edu/pub/.../gs_dir/000_gs.html>. Here you can find biographies of Korzybski, a diagram and article describing the Structural Differential, and a wealth of other articles about general semantics and related fields, as well as photographs, links to other pages, and more.

Steven Lewis has an extensive site with gs information, several articles, and some of his own essays at <http://www.kcmetro.cc.mo.us/pennvalley/biology/lewis/gs.htm>. You can also explore an extensive list of links to other interesting sites.

Roger Russell's home page, at <http://sundial.sundial.net/~rogerr/nulla.htm>, features a detailed article about A. E. van Vogt and his Null-A novels. If these stories brought you to general semantics (as they did me), you might particularly enjoy this site.

Michel Dussandier has abstracted and combined many of van Vogt's references to general semantics. You can read the result at < http://altern.org/ghanima/nonaen.htm>. From this page you can navigate to the rest of his site (mostly in French), which has links to several gs resources. Some of Michel's pages also provide lovely demonstrations of nonverbal orientations.

Steve Stockdale's page (http://www.stockdale.cnchost.com) includes some gs essays, links to other gs sites, and information about the proposed International General Semantics Conference, scheduled for 2000. Steve and others have done a lot of work on this project. Please take some time to visit his site, read about current proposals and plans, and consider how you might contribute to this process.

Helga Tawil's site includes a page about general semantics, and links to other 'thinking'-oriented sites: <http://helga.com/thinking/semantics.html>. You can explore the rest of her site by shortening the URL as far back as "thinking," or "com."

The site developed by Bruce Kodish, at <http://www.transmillennium.net/brucekodish/tableofcontents.htm> includes some general semantics essays and related links, as well as information about other related areas of study.

Some personal views of general semantics appear in an extensive essay by Andy Bruce, at his gs page: <http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Olympus/2329/gs_intro.html>.

Fleming Funch offers an essay about Korzybski and gs at <http://www.worldtrans.org/essay/scisanity.html>.

Next, head on over to "Ken's Adventures in Communication," a comprehensive site created by Ken Erickson. You'll find several essays on general semantics and on human communication, as well as links to related sites. I liked Ken's thoughtful and multi-valued comparison of Korzybski's Structural Differential and Hayakawa's Abstraction Ladder.

Ralph Kenyon, who has contributed papers on gs to ETC and The General Semantics Bulletin, maintains a site which includes many of his essays and articles. You can find these at <http://www.vgernet.net/diogenes/gs-bib.html>.

You'll find some less-than-'orthodox' views of general semantics at Engle Nobbe's web site. Take a virtual trip to the Netherlands, and see what you think: <http://www.doit.demon.nl/nightliv/semanti2.htm>.

Last - and nowhere near least: Nicholas Johnson has created a great page as a memorial to his father, gs pioneer Wendell Johnson, at <http://soli.inav.net/%7Enjohnson/wjhome.html>. You'll find works by and about Wendell Johnson, photographs, gs links, and more.

Web Sites With References to GS

"Once upon a time, there was a Zen student who quoted an old Buddhist poem to his teacher, which says: 'The voices of torrents are from one great tongue, the lions of the hills are the pure body of Buddha."Isn't that right?' he said to the teacher. 'It is,' said the teacher, 'but it's a pity to say so.'" With this example of the 'unspeakable world', Alan Watts began a lecture on Zen, which you can read at <http://deoxy.org/w_lectur.htm>. Watts cites Korzybski, and perhaps something on this site will help guide you a bit closer to those non-verbal levels of what-goes-on.

At the Gestalt Journal web site, you can find some interesting acknowledgments of Korzybski's influence on the development of gestalt therapy. Try <http://www.gestalt. org/alfred.htm> and <http://www.gestalt.org/newkey.htm>.

C. A. Hilgartner's "Human Symbolizing" site represents an ambitious, wide-ranging (and to me, anyway, a sometimes opaque) adaptation of general semantics. Hilgartner targets nothing less than a "revision of the fundamental lived assumptions of the human species." You'll find a lot of provocative and challenging material - including several essays - at <http://hilgart.org/>.

At the St. Louis Business Journal's site (http://amcity.com/stlouis/stories/062998/newscolumn1.html), I found Alfred Fleishman's "Wounding; with Words" effective and evocative. Few people have proven so successful at bringing the pragmatic benefits of gs to the 'person in the street'.

Martin Euser presents a 'non-scientist's' experience of general semantics in an essay about Vitvan and his teachings. To find this, go to <http://www.euronet.nl/users/euser/vithl1.htm>. You can find more information on Vitvan and gs at <http://www.sno.org>. I particularly recommend these resources for those people who 'know' general semantics as a 'scientific' discipline. It seems reasonable (to me, anyway) that gs might exist as 'multi-valued'.

If you haven't yet discovered a site called "The Glass Bead Game," start with this page on Korzybski and gs, and then explore a cornucopia of biographies: <http://userwww.sfsu.edu/~rsauzier/Korzybski.html>.

A page on the site maintained by the Integrated Systemic Inquiry Primer Project contains some gs formulations related to communicating and evaluation, attributed to Bob Pula: <http://www.newciv.org/ISSS_Primer/gstoc.html>.

The Whole Systems site contains links to many 'systems' oriented sites - and a page on general semantics - at <http://www.worldtrans.org/whole/gensemantics.html>.

An essay on "Reduced English" by Donald E. Simanek describes E-prime (as well as a novel written without any use of the letter "e"), and appears at <http://www.lhup.edu/~dsimanek/eprime.htm>.

You can find other articles on E-prime (written by Robert A. Wilson) at <http://members.icanect.net/~zardoz/eprime.htm> and <http://www.rawilsoncom/quantum.html>. Or, you might want to drop down an order or two of abstracting, and look for David Bourland's own E-Prime articles on the ISGS web site.

At <http://www.afirstlook.com/docs/Korzybski.html> you will find an interesting example of the value of the internet for reference and research. This site contains a chapter on general semantics which appeared in the first edition of A First Look at Communication Theory, by Em Griffin. It does not appear in the second edition, but you can still access it through the internet.

If you have or work with children, you might see how you like some of the 'general semantics stories for kids' at this site: <http://www.newciv,org/GS4Kids>.

At the official Peace Corps site, as part of the "Handbook for Returning Peace Corps Volunteer Speakers" (http://www.peacecorps.gov/wws/guides/speakers/speak.html), you can find a reprinted article from Seymour Fersh's Learning About Peoples and Cultures. Fersh derives some useful advice from general semantics (and credits Korzybski and others), and adapts it to the particular circumstances of Peace Corps volunteers.

Peter Wastholm's aphorisms site now includes a few quotes from Science and Sanity (one of the results of the NETworking project), and I bet he'd appreciate any other contributions some of you might care to make. Start with Korzybski's page, at <http://www.aphorismsgalore.com/author/Alfred_Korzybski.html>, and explore from there.

You can visit one of the most outstanding sites I've found, at <http://www. lucifer.com/~sasha/thinkers.html>: Alexander Chislenko's "Great Thinkers and Visionaries." You'll find Alfred Korzybski's name - as a "candidate" for the 'main' list - near the bottom of the page. While this site doesn't provide information on general semantics, I think it should. How about a few of you providing Alexander with some reasons for including Korzybski as a 'full member' of this distinguished assembly?

Make a point of visiting the QMW Thinking Club site, at <http://www.maths.qmw.ac.uk/~femi/thinkingclub/>. Once there, click on the link near the left of your screen for "Internet Material," and you should end up at a page with several connections to gs information, and to related sites. Remember the navigation suggestions I gave above? Place your cursor at the end of this URL, and delete your way back, until "femi" becomes the last part of the remaining address. Hit "enter," and you'll find a wealth of sites covering an impressively broad range of interests. (Boy, I love the net.)

Maybe you've known about gs for years - or perhaps you've just picked up this issue of ETC while waiting for the dentist. [What kind of dentist do you go to??] In any case, spend some time at the Blue Valley (Kansas) Tech Academy site. Here, at <http://206.65.103.2/Technology_InTheClass room/general_semantics1.htm>, you can work your way through several lessons in general semantics formulations and orientations. Another page <http://www.kn.pacbell. com/wired/fil/pages/listsemantics.html> forms part of this curriculum. This one provides a list of gs links which young people should find interesting. I hope to see more sites like these.

To complete your journey on a high note, go to <http://www.newciv.org/ISSS_Primer/seminaro.html>. Here you can read an essay on general semantics written by veteran gs teacher Milton Dawes. If you really want a better understanding of gs, don't miss this.

With some regret, I've omitted some impressively goofy abstractions of 'general semantics' which have appeared on the internet. But - explore. You may well come across something ... interesting!

E-mail Lists

An 'e-mail list' provides an opportunity for several individuals to share their e-mail messages with each other, in an open forum. Once you have subscribed to the list, you merely send ("post") your e-mail to the list at a common address, which results in the "post" getting sent to each individual member of the list. You can, of course, also communicate with individuals "off-list", by e-mailing them directly.

You can find discussions about theoretical issues and complex analyses and interpretations of general semantics on the oldest general semantics e-mail list, developed and maintained by John McPherson. Most participants have read and/or studied general semantics for several years. In my own appropriately humble and ineluctably biased opinion, a few of the contributors actually demonstrate more than 'mere' knowledge of gs principles and formulations - they also appear to use general semantics in their evaluative processes and interpersonal interactions. You might learn a lot about gs from this list ("how-to" and "how-not-to") - if you possess an effective semantic thresher.

You can subscribe to this list by sending an e-mail to John McPherson at <[e-mail]>. (The computer "server" address for this list recently changed to "genius." Prior to that, most people referred to this list by the former server name: "Lumina.") John's excellent web site (described earlier) includes a link to information about the list, and provides some helpful background and guidelines.

If you'd like to participate in e-mail exchanges which tend to focus on the basics of general semantics, and on ways of integrating gs in your daily life, you might want to investigate the "gsintro list." Carmen Clark actively moderates the process, and describes the list this way:

"The list began in 1996 in an effort to allow a friendly, positive learning environment for newcomers. On gsintro-L, people can ask questions about anything they don't understand or would like to learn about gs, pursue relatively elementary formulations in detail, and analyze their experiences in an environment that discourages rhetorical or combative 'noise'. Several very experienced gsers subscribe to the list and serve as resources, while others of more 'intermediate' skill levels post actively as well.

"Questions from newcomers about basic general semantics receive highest priority within the ongoing open dialogue on the intro list. Exchanges often focus on explaining terms and formulations, the ways participants have applied or would like to apply non-A assumptions to problem solving, communication, relationships, decision making, habit forming, habit breaking, and so on. Other approaches involving real-life experiences or applications are welcome, as are readings, parables, or aphorisms that illustrate non-A processing. Activities and short articles get posted as needs and interest arise."

You can subscribe to gsintro by sending an e-mail to <[e-mail]>, with no subject heading. As your message, write only "subscribe gsintro-L".

An e-mail list for children interested in general semantics also exists, although I understand that it has not yet attracted many participants. If you'd like to breathe some life into this promising medium, you can subscribe by sending an e-mail to <[e-mail]>. Leave the subject line empty, and in the message section write only "subscribe gs4kids-L".

"The Science and Sanity reading list" focuses more tightly on specific aspects of gs, and has a fairly precise stated purpose. According to Carmen, the list "functions as a study and discussion news list devoted to principal texts related to general semantics. It formed in fall 1995 to read Alfred Korzybski's seminal work, Science and Sanity (1933), chapter by chapter on a schedule, with participants trading off reporting on chapters and offering discussion questions.... The group then began a similar approach to Alfred Korzybski: Collected Writings, 1920-1950." The list has recently discussed S.I. Hayakawa's Language in Thought and Action, and may later return to Science and Sanity.

You can join this virtual study group by sending an e-mail to <[e-mail]>, leaving the subject line blank, and providing the

message, "subscribe ssread-L". If you'd like to do a little preliminary research on this process, John McPherson has archived many of the contributions to the ssread e-mail list on his web site. If you'd like more information about these lists, you can contact Max Sandor at <[e-mail]>, or Carmen Clark at <[e-mail]>.

The European Society for General Semantics currently maintains mailings lists for its English, French and Spanish web sites. You can link to these from each site, accessed via the default URL to the French site: <http://www710. univ-lyon1.fr/~fouet/gs/gs.htm>.

And - this just in! After writing this article, and before it got cast in stone (or whatever ISGS uses), I heard from Jesse Alter, a young man new to gs. Jesse has recently created another e-mail list for those interested in discussing general semantics. If you'd like to help pioneer this new endeavor, contact him at <[e-mail]> for directions on how to sign up for the "gs-list."

Don't hesitate to explore these avenues for learning more about gs. Many, if not most, subscribers "lurk" - reading posts but not actively participating - until they feel comfortable joining in. You can subscribe easily, and just as easily unsubscribe. And you just might learn some more about gs!

"Chat" Channels

As an alternative to the existing e-mail lists, some students of general semantics have from time to time discussed the creation of"chat channels" or "chat rooms." The "chat" function available through several sites and systems on the internet allows for real-time exchanges between participants. Comments get posted to a shared chat room, or sent to the appropriately-configured sites of those taking part in the process. The immediacy of chat offers an interaction experience different from that of the e-mail lists, newsgroups or internet bulletin boards.

To date, these opportunities appear to have remained unexplored, although I harbor some hopes that this article will serve to foster some interest in them. If you'd like more information on these, please contact me at <[e-mail]>.

Conclusion

This plethora of unique interpretations and personal opinions about gs might strike you as pretty discordant and confusing. If so, you might want to consider some advice from Bob Dick's "Theory and Experience" page (httg://www.scu.edu.au/schools/sawd/arr/theory.html): "There are maps and maps. Different maps choose to represent different features of the territory. Several maps, taken together, may provide a better understanding of the territory than any one map can."

As you wend your way through the virtual gs jungle don't try too hard to figure out "who is right," or "who is wrong." Instead, try to just look around, and take in the pretty colors and symbols. Get a sense of the process - of the gestalt. Time enough later to go back and consider what seems to work best for you.

Even after all of this, at some point you might find yourself wondering, "Well, what's the truth about gs? Where's the real general semantics?"

I have no idea where to find The Truth. But I do have a suggestion about where to find 'general semantics'. A 'real' general semantics does exist, by definition, in the works of Alfred Korzybski. This doesn't mean, of course, that variations and abstractions of his work don't have value. But if you want to find the 'real' gs, I'd suggest you go to the source: Science and Sanity, and Korzybski's other works.

In the context of this article, then, look for material like this at the ISGS and IGS web sites, and at some individuals' sites. And otherwise: Caveat Abstractor.

I hope that those of you who may have your own internet sites will create links from your pages to some of these general semantics sites. You may end up helping to introduce general semantics to someone you've never met or heard of - or to an old friend.

I can't, of course, list here 'all' of the internet sites which touch on general semantics. Despite substantial research, I've probably missed several worthwhile sites. I've probably found and then forgotten a few, too. And when my computer crashed and burned awhile ago, I lost several files. And then my dog ate my homework....

Anyway: If you know of any gs-related sites, please e-mail the URLs to me. If appropriate, I'll add them to the digital version of this article, which I suspect might find a home on the ISGS web site.

I hope this map of the internet will contribute to your understanding of general semantics - and that you'll enjoy the process of exploration as much as I have.

Having just moved into a new home, Pete Christopher reports that his fertilizer-shoveling has finally become a literal endeavor, in addition to a semantic occupation. When not engaged in heavy lifting, he tells people that he has begun work editing a book of general semantics essays. You can send questions, comments, contributions, kudos, condemnation and/or cash to him at his new e-mail address: <[e-mail]>.