Scoundrels, manipulators, and religious propaganda

[Bill Irwin]

God Rap song Bob.  But maybe too deep for the teen audience.
Bill


----- Original Message -----
From: telebob x <telebob98@hotmail.com>
To: <billi@aloha.net>
Sent: Thursday, October 11, 2001 2:22 PM
Subject: Re: Scoundrels, manipulators, and religious propaganda


> Hi Bill...here is my source of x-ray specs...are you familiar with Science
> and Sanity and the work of Alfred Korzybski?
>
>
>
> General Semantics Formulations Related to Human Communications Processes,
> Human Evaluating, etc.
>
>
> process of abstracting
> structurally-determined (i.e., pre-attitudinal, selecting/filtering)
> transducing
> integrating (pre-conscious)
> projecting (pre-conscious; potentially conscious)
> languaging (multi-ordinal; self-reflexive)
> spiral character of abstracting
> Attitudes, preferences, etc., through neuro-linguistic mechanisms,
> complicate but do not fundamentally change the process; all human
evaluating
> derives from and constitutes abstracting.
>
>
> Structural Differential
> as map (model) of the abstracting process, accumulation of and
transmission
> of knowledge (information), etc.
>
>
> semantic reaction
> total, 'emotional', 'intellectual', i.e., psychological response of a
> (human) organism-as-a-whole to a stimulus; broader than what is
> traditionally called 'meaning'
> symbol: human, delayed, conditional
> signal: animal, immediate, unconditional, animal-human continuum
>
>
> multi-use of terms
> lexical ('same' term, different definition)
> contextual ('same' term, different situation)
> neurological ('same' term, different brain)
>
>
> multiordinality of terms
> 'same' term, different evaluations related to different orders of
> abstracting; 'meaning' = f(order of abstracting)
>
>
> orders (levels) of abstracting
> acts
>
>
> orders (levels) of abstraction
> results in time T (artificially 'fixed' for analysis) which affects
further
> analysis
>
>
> structure
> order, relations, function as mutually defining terms
>
>
> structure
> (relationships, pattern, order, arrangement, observe-observed continuum in
> time) as only 'content' of knowledge - breakaway from the search for
> 'essences', 'things in themselves', etc. General semantics as a
> non-essentialist discipline.
>
>
> Sapir-Whorf-Korzybski Hypothesis
> "... a language, any language, has at its bottom certain metaphysics,
which
> ascribe, consciously or unconsciously, some structure to the world."
> (Science and Sanity, p.89) "We do not realize what tremendous power the
> structure of an habitual language has. It is not an exaggeration to say
that
> it enslaves us through the mechanism of s.r. (semantic reaction) and that
> the structure which a language exhibits, and imposes upon us
unconsciously,
> is automatically projected upon the world around us. This semantic power
is
> indeed so unbelievable that I do not know any one, even among well-trained
> scientists, who, after admitting some argument as correct, does not the
next
> minute deny or disregard (usually unconsciously) practically every word he
> had admitted, being carried away again by the structural implications of
the
> old language and his s.r." (Science and Sanity, pp.90-91)
>
>
> intensional orientation
> over-dependence on definitions, verbalizations, etc.
>
>
> extensional orientation
> while maintaining linguistic formulational capabilities, priority assigned
> to non-verbal ('silent') orders of abstracting
>
>
> extensional devices
> as neurolinguistic prophylactic (see above)
>
>
> non-elementalism
>
>
> general semantics
> as a meta-communicational (meta-linguistic, meta-system) system
>
>
> GS as method of evaluation
> relatively 'neutral'; no fixed 'content'; an open system; a propositional
> calculus; modern, open, applied epistemology
>
>
> neurolinguistic feedback
> 'feedback' borrowed from Norbert Wiener but anticipated by Korzybski in
his
> formulation of the circular-spiral character of abstracting and
neurological
> emphasis. (See Structural Differential, Science and Sanity, pp.386-411)
>
>
> neuro-semantic environments
> as environments
>
>
> non-Aristotelian
> not anti-Aristotelian, but broader and corrective
>
>
> non-identity
> of level (orders) of abstraction(ing) necessary for fully (fullest)
> functioning humans
>
>
> science as method
> (not to be confused with scientific 'knowledge' at a date, technology,
> behavior of scientific societies, etc.) recommended as method for sanity
>
>
> life as an asymmetric relation
> irreversible process-at-a-date: "you can't (1991) unboil an egg."
>
>
> uncertainty
> (restricted Heisenbergian and general Korzybskian) accepted as at heart of
> human evaluating
>
>
> time-binding
> as characteristic human activity, leading to:
> - formation of cultures
> - formation of culture-studying cultures
> - rejection of space-binding (excessively competitive) ethics
>
>
> language
> as tool of time-binding
> language-referent relationships
>
>
> verbal/non-verbal (silent) levels
>
>
> verbal-non-verbal isomorphy
> (while maintaining awareness of non-identity)
>
>
> logical fate
> (premise-conclusion relationship)
>
>
> fact/inference distinction
> (levels of abstraction)
>
>
> multi-valued vs. two-valued
> (either-or) orientations
>
>
> types of questions
> operational
> speculative
> fun
> pathology-inducing (lack of consciousness of abstracting)
>
>
> I.F.D. disease
>
>
> H = ME + MM
>
>
> Abstracting:
> A technical term in general semantics; a dictionary won't help.
>
> A personal process (an activity with recognizable phases), somewhat
> different for each person; involving:
> Structurally-determined selecting/filtering (sensory and neural
> abstracting); including transducing (e.g., for the eye, from
electromagnetic
> vibrations at 186,000 m.p.s. to electrochemical at 225 m.p.h. in the large
> neural fibers.)
> Functional selecting depending on past experiences, moods, needs,
interests,
> etc.
> Integrating - summarizing, gestalting
> Projecting - "the tendency of brains to allocate their own experience
> elsewhere." Robert Pula
> Self-reflexiveness - including reactions to reactions, etc.
> Talking (symbolizing) to self and others, which involves:
> Multiordinality - many possible orders of abstraction;
> Self-reflexiveness - talking about talk, statements about statements, etc.
> The entire process is potentially self-corrective and produces results
that
> can be communicated.
>
>
> This process makes it clear that
>
> Our maps, non-verbal or verbal, are not the territory. Our maps cannot
> represent all of the territory. Any map represents a territory-map maker
> synthesis; this must be taken into account in evaluation the map.
> Since the map is not the territory, what we seek is a map similar in
> structure to the territory.
>
>
> © Robert P. Pula, 1991
>
>
>
>
>
>
> >From: "Bill Irwin" <billi@aloha.net>
> >To: "telebob x" <telebob98@hotmail.com>
> >CC: <austin-ghetto-list@pairlist.net>
> >Subject: Re: Scoundrels, manipulators, and religious propaganda
> >Date: Thu, 11 Oct 2001 10:58:29 -1000
> >
> >Right On Bob!  I wish everyone in the world could get a pair of those
x-ray
> >specs
>
> _________________________________________________________________
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