"Education should be more than the presentation of many facts to be memorized by students. The first aspects of an innovative education should have an emphasis on communication and the ability to resolve and avoid conflicts. This can be accomplished though an exposure to general semantics."You can read the rest here: Jaque Fresco on the Future of Education
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Jacque Fresco on GS and the Future of Education
Interesting reference to GS on a Website about something called "The Venus Project" put together by Jacque Fresco, a social visionary who wrote a book a long time ago with Ken Keyes, Jr., a former student of Alfred Korzybski. Fresco wrote:
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3 comments:
Oh wow, have you not heard of him before? He's actually part of an entire movement called "the zeitgeist movement" that is based largely on the teachings of Korzybski, and the desire for rational thought and application of the scientific method in our confused society (which is actually how I stumbled upon your books/site)...
Speaking of books, a word of advice on this new book: get a good graphic designer to do the cover!
I've had a helluva time trying to get people to read your books (books I feel are perhaps the easiest for beginners to dabble their toes in the general semantic waters in without feeling like they're drowning in a sea of scientific speak), all because they look at your covers and assume you write as well as your microsoft paint book jacket designs.
It's very sad and frustrating when this happens (and it's happened to me almost every time I give your books to friends to read), but people have been conditioned to be suckers for marketing, and packaging is a huge deal (I, for example, am in a band, and I work so hard on writing and recording, and then to have to spend so much extra time designing the stupid album cover to lure people into giving the songs a chance is quite offensive to me, but it has to be done, and the better it is done, the more people you will reach, and that's the goal, isn't it?).
I hope that doesn't sound rude or insulting, because I've really enjoyed reading your books, but it's out of concern for you and the desire to see this new book do really well that I say this.
Keep up the good work!
Thanks for your comments. Re our cover—not a microsoft paint job. We did have a professional designer do the cover, actually someone who has specialized in CD covers for punk rock bands. Since we've had other people comment that they liked the cover, it would help us to know more about the responses you've heard. And your own response to the cover. If you can email us with more details, we'll appreciate it. We realize that unfortunately some people might have negative reactions. And people often do judge books by their cover.
Hi there, my name is Josh. Not sure if you still blog on here, but I just took out a 4th edition copy of Science and Sanity from the Bridgeport (CT) public library, and I'm giving it a whirl. It seems to get easier to read once one gets past the lengthy introductions and gets used to the 'jargon' that Korzybski used in the book -- or, at least, it seems that way to me.
I actually came across Korzybski and general semantics through some of Jacque Fresco's online videos, and he also lists Science and Sanity as a "Recommended Book" on The Venus Project's website. He talks a lot about what people mean by what they say, which is something that is very interesting to me (2013). I'm studying up on TVP, and I might become the "point of contact" in Connecticut for "TVP Activism", a subset of The Venus Project that is supposed to spread the ideas of TVP -- that is to say, the ideas of applying the scientific method to social/human concern.
Jacque, along with his assistant, Roxanne Meadows, advocate for converting to a global "resource-based economy" in which technology and resources are used directly to meet human needs, especially through automating most jobs. It's a very interesting project, and one that I think that Korzybski influenced greatly, although people at the Institute might not realize yet.
The Zeitgeist Movement is separate from TVP; they split in about 2011 or 2012, I believe, because TZM was supposed to be the activist arm of TVP, but Peter Joseph wasn't leading it in the right direction. There's a video somewhere about the split on the FAQ page of The Venus Project's website.
Perhaps in the future, the Institute of General Semantics can work with The Venus Project in bringing about applying the scientific method to social concern. There seem to be a lot of synergistic points between the two organizations; Korzybski was a big influence on Fresco, at least.
Well, that's about all I have for now. I'm still only about 80 pages into S&S, so I hope I continue to grasp the ideas along with some kind of understanding of how to apply them in life. Take care, and keep writing.
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