The thirty-fourth episode of Semantic Reactions, the official podcast of the Institute of General Semantics, is now available for your listening pleasure. Our June 2025 podcast features features IGS trustee and past president Martin H. Levinson talking about the recent publication of his latest book, Sensible Thinking 3: The Adventure Continues. In conversation with IGS president Lance Strate, Marty talks about general semantics, learning and education, and the process of writing, as well as topics such as PTSD, antisemitism, politics, and satire.

You can access Episode 34 via our host site, and it is also available through most major podcast platforms, also on YouTube, and below:

The IGS is pleased to announce the latest publication in its New Non-Aristotelian Library book series: Sensible Thinking 3: The Adventure Continues by IGS Trustee and Past President Martin H. Levinson. The book is available from all major online booksellers, and via the IGS store in softcover and epub formats.

Sensible Thinking 3: The Adventure Continues is a practical guide rooted in the principles of general semantics that provides tools to help one get effectively through the day. It offers GS techniques for clear thinking, emotional self-management, and analyses of social issues. Its approach is direct and accessible, making complex concepts understandable even to those unfamiliar with general semantics.

The book is structured with standalone chapters, allowing readers to engage with them individually without having prior context. It provides cogent examples to explain abstract ideas such as orders of abstraction, mapping territories, and time-binding, and has chapters with reflections on historical events like particular eras of American disunity and the foundations of the Revolutionary War. There is also discussion of how Alfred Korzybski devised general semantics and a look at contemporary concerns such as post-traumatic stress disorder that incorporates no-nonsense strategies for its resolution. A coda presents a brief history of the Institute of General Semantics.

The latest episode of Tristan Harris's podcast Your Undivided Attention from the Center for Humane Technology, featured an interview of IGS President Lance Strate, along with journalist Sean Illing, talking about Neil Postman. The episode is available via most major podcast distributors, and on the Center's website. A video of the discussion is also available via YouTube and below:

IGS President Lance Strate was a guest on Paul Levinson's podcast to discuss his new book published by the IGS, Not A, Not Be, &c. The full episode of Light On Light Through is available via most major podcast distributors (or just click on the link above or right here), and a video of the conversation is also available on YouTube, and below:

We are pleased to share that artist, writer, and scholar John Cussans has published a book chapter, "This is Not A Diagram: Applying General Semantics to Contemporary Arts Pedagogy" in a co-authored book entitled Drawing Analogies: Diagrams in Art, Theory, and Practice, published by Bloomsbury Collections, and available to download for free via Open Access agreement. To access the specific chapter, click here. 

We are proud to share that Chris Meyer, a trustee of the Institute of General Semantics, and author of the two books published by the IGS, How Do You Know: A Guide to Clear Thinking About Wall Street, Investing, and Life, and Dear Fellow Time-Binder: Letters on General Semantics, has been interviewed in Edge magazine. To read the interview online click here.

IGS President Lance Strate recently traveled to India to deliver the 10th annual Balvant Parekh Memorial Lecture hosted by the Balvant Parekh Centre for General Semantics and Other Human Sciences. 

The Centre also co-sponsored a talk he delivered at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay upon his arrival in Mumbai on November 9th. The address was entitled, "The Future of Knowledge, and the Fate of Wisdom, in the Age of Information." A version of the lecture was published online by the journal Philosophies as part of a special issue on philosophy and communication technology.

Dr. Strate's Balvant Parekh Memorial Lecture was entitled, "The Message, the Meaning, and the Medium," and was published and distributed by the Centre. The actual lecture was delivered on November 11 at the Balvant Parekh Centre for General Semantics and Other Human Sciences, which is located in the city of Baroda, also known as Vadodara, in the Indian state of Gujarat. 

And the following morning, he gave a short talk on "Korzybski's Structural Differential, Plato's Cave, and the Shield of Perseus: Ways of Knowing Our Ways of Knowing," followed by a discussion on his two talks, and on the Institute of General Semantics and its activities, and a lighthearted poetry reading.

We look forward to continued collaboration and cooperation with the Balvant Parekh Memorial Centre, and with other organizations dedicated to general semantics and other human sciences.

We are pleased to introduced a brand new lapel pin based on the IGS logo.

Show off your non-aristotelian style with style!

Now on sale exclusively via the IGS store for only $10!

Congratulations to the recipients of the Institute's 2024 prizes and awards!

The Samuel I. Hayakawa Book Prize for the most outstanding work published in the past five years on topics of direct relevance to the discipline of general semantics (the prize includes a cash award of $1,000) to Marcy Axelrod for How We Choose to Show Up: Nature’s Playbook for Creating a Meaningful Life and the World We Want.

The Christine L. Nystrom Prize awarded to a student currently enrolled in a masters or doctoral level graduate program for outstanding scholarship in the form of a paper on the topic of symbols and meaning (the winning entry will be published in the IGS journal, ETC: A Review of General Semantics, and receive a cash prize of $500) to Kristen Haldeman for “Unveiling the MOOC Mosaic: Navigating Self-Paced Learning Landscapes”.

The Sanford I. Berman Award for Excellence in Teaching General Semantics granted to individuals for outstanding use of general semantics formulations in educational settings on any level to Lance Strate in recognition of continuing excellence in teaching general semantics.

The Marjorie Kendig Award for Outstanding Translation to Orli Berger Kadim for her work in translating Martin Levinson's Practical Fairytales from English to Hebrew and Laura Trujillo’s Formal Cause in Marshall McLuhan’s Thinking from Spanish to English.

The J. Talbot Winchell Award to IGS Secretary and Trustee in Eva Berger In Recognition of her Indispensable Contributions, Accomplishments and Time-Binding Efforts in Service to the Field of General Semantics.