From: <christopher_l._turner@hud.gov>
Message-Id: <9804208930.AA893092238@hudsmtphq.hud.gov>
Date: Mon, 20 Apr 98 13:03:11 -0500
To: <memetics@mmu.ac.uk>
Subject: Re: General Semantics-Josip's suggestion
Edryce Reynolds wrote:
>>>>>>Do you practice E-Prime? I try, but lapse into "to be" even when
I consciously want to do otherwise. I would like to hear more about
your involvement with GS, and thank you for asking such an important
question for a list like this one.<<<<<<<
Edryce, I think you are refering to my response to Josip.
My view of the relevance of gs to 'memetic engineering' is as it bears
upon the activity I regard as 'nervous system self-programming', which
gs describes as 'abstracting' information from our experiences and
incorporating that abstracted information into a neurological 'map' of
ourselves-in-our-environment. This, in fact, is what we are doing
virtually all the time. Our useage of our language, and the
incorporation into our language of terminologies which appropriately
reference and acknowledge this abstracting/mapping process, is a key
mechanism in this abstracting/mapping process, and in whether or not
we incorporate ('internalize') an awareness of it into the process
itself. Among other things, this awareness helps to 'free' us from
the assumptions and inferences about the structure of the world we
live in which are implicit in our [somewhat "QWERTY"] language.
I.e., if we are going to design memes, or 'neurological programs',
then we should not be complete 'prisoners' of our own.
Gotta go. Thanks for asking.
Chris Turner
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