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Plenum, issue 2, July 1946
Page 8
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PLENUM Page eight So when I come across this work which constantly harps on the wonderful advantages to be had by the use of the null-A system, then I get suspicious and ask myself, is Korzybski a genius or is he a crackpot? The book has all the earmarks of both characters. To wind this chapter up, a word about semantics activities which exist outside of fandom. Other people besides science fiction fans talk about semantics, believe it or not. First there is the Institute of General Semantics, of which K is the director, and which is a school where people go to get null-A training. Yassuh, the very Semantics Institute that van Vogt talked about. The address is 1234 East 56th St., Chicago, Illinois. (Yow, I just noticed how those numbers run.....) Connected with the Institute is the International Non-Aristotelian Library Publishing Company, which has as its distributors the Silence Press Company, Lancaster, Pa. They are publishing a long list of books on null-A topics, and you can get S&S from them if you wish. I'll cost you $6.00, but it's a heavy book for the money. There is also the Society for General Semantics which seems to be centered in the Illinois Institute of Technology, also in Chicago. Many of its officers are professors at the University of Chicago. Douglas Webster was so good as to give me Volume I, No. 1 of their publication, "ETC.: A Review of General Semantics." The editor is S.I. Hawakawa, and it contains articles on various subjects with a null-A slant. The use of "ETC." in the title is obscure until you read S&S. It is part of the extensional method of definition, where to indicate all of the infinite aspects of a certain thing, you simply give a few common examples, and then append the etc. to indicate that the examples go on indefinitely and that the reader is supposed to be able to carry on by virtue of his own experience. So whether you think Korzybski is batty or not, he has a program that is worth looking into. For my part, I intend giving the null-A training a trial, and I'll report the results to you. That, of course, must follow my finishing the book. Only 600 pages to go. Look at all I've learned from the first 200 pages! My my. Since writing the above I have received word of a half dozen fans reading S&S. No doubt there will be a concerted rush to get into print with commentaries. I hope I'm not too far in the rear. Hate to get scooped, you know. Could be this is the delayed reaction to "World of A." Van Vogt ought to get a cut out of Korzybski's royalties. Brentano said they'd filled two orders for the book just before mine. Be interesting to know just who those people were.... There's our upcoming supermen.............
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PLENUM Page eight So when I come across this work which constantly harps on the wonderful advantages to be had by the use of the null-A system, then I get suspicious and ask myself, is Korzybski a genius or is he a crackpot? The book has all the earmarks of both characters. To wind this chapter up, a word about semantics activities which exist outside of fandom. Other people besides science fiction fans talk about semantics, believe it or not. First there is the Institute of General Semantics, of which K is the director, and which is a school where people go to get null-A training. Yassuh, the very Semantics Institute that van Vogt talked about. The address is 1234 East 56th St., Chicago, Illinois. (Yow, I just noticed how those numbers run.....) Connected with the Institute is the International Non-Aristotelian Library Publishing Company, which has as its distributors the Silence Press Company, Lancaster, Pa. They are publishing a long list of books on null-A topics, and you can get S&S from them if you wish. I'll cost you $6.00, but it's a heavy book for the money. There is also the Society for General Semantics which seems to be centered in the Illinois Institute of Technology, also in Chicago. Many of its officers are professors at the University of Chicago. Douglas Webster was so good as to give me Volume I, No. 1 of their publication, "ETC.: A Review of General Semantics." The editor is S.I. Hawakawa, and it contains articles on various subjects with a null-A slant. The use of "ETC." in the title is obscure until you read S&S. It is part of the extensional method of definition, where to indicate all of the infinite aspects of a certain thing, you simply give a few common examples, and then append the etc. to indicate that the examples go on indefinitely and that the reader is supposed to be able to carry on by virtue of his own experience. So whether you think Korzybski is batty or not, he has a program that is worth looking into. For my part, I intend giving the null-A training a trial, and I'll report the results to you. That, of course, must follow my finishing the book. Only 600 pages to go. Look at all I've learned from the first 200 pages! My my. Since writing the above I have received word of a half dozen fans reading S&S. No doubt there will be a concerted rush to get into print with commentaries. I hope I'm not too far in the rear. Hate to get scooped, you know. Could be this is the delayed reaction to "World of A." Van Vogt ought to get a cut out of Korzybski's royalties. Brentano said they'd filled two orders for the book just before mine. Be interesting to know just who those people were.... There's our upcoming supermen.............
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