Steve
Steve's Concluding Remarks
My apologies for going so long, but I had some thing I wanted to say and two video clips I wanted to show.
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Script
Well, this is the hardest part for me ... having to stop and put a period and an ecetera to the course. Before I get to that period, however, I have a few personal reflections I'd like to offer.
First, thanks to Mary and Manchester University in Indiana for being willing to put their names on this course. And thanks to our volunteer TAs who, because of various life events, didn't have as much time as they would've liked to spend with us.
At the beginning of the course I had a few things to say about expectations. Here are some data as we conclude the course:
- This chart shows the pattern of our enrollment through 31 January. As the course was open for enrollment through last week, the final count was 1,326.
- Representing 67 different nations, or about a third of all the countries on the planet.
- Here you can see the top-level graph of participation in the course, measured by daily number of logins and page views.
- And here are the numbers of module badges that have been awarded.
So what does this say about the success of the course? What does this all mean with respect to the value of this course? To you the students, and to Mary, Greg, and me? And what does it mean to the Canvas Network administrators who will evaluate whether to offer it again?
One of the points we've tried to highlight about General Semantics is to emphasize that we are concerned not with theories or philosophies about language or communication in the abstract. As Alfred Korzybski put it, we are concerned with living human reactions - not according to detached, academic categories but in terms of living human reactions "in the wild" of daily behaving.
I'd like to show you two short clips to reinforce how GS applies to our living human reactions.
The first is from the 1983 movie with Michael Keaton and Terri Garr, "Mr. Mom." The father has been laid off from his job and hasn't yet found work. The mother has found a job and is returning to work, while the father stays home to play "Mr. Mom."
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The second is from a talk by Apple co-founder Steve Jobs in 1980. View the entire 23-minute talk on YouTube. Links to an external site.
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To me, these clips illustrate two things. First, Korzybski's diagnosis of our human shortcomings – how we're doing it wrong. And second, his prognosis for what might result if we were to acknowledge these shortcomings, overcome them, and amplify our own human abilities.
Now I happen to think these are laudable sentiments, and as the past 20 years of my life attest, I've evaluated Korzybski's General Semantics as still relevant after all these years.
Aldous Huxley, author of Brave New World, seemed to agree.
Similarly, a man who knows how symbols are related to experience, and who practices the kind of linguistic self-control taught by the exponents of General Semantics, is unlikely to take too seriously the absurd or dangerous nonsense that, within every culture, passes for philosophy, practical wisdom and political argument.
So, yes, I'll confess to enlisting in Korzybski's quixotic quest. I don't believe it's unreasonable to attempt to amplify our inherent human abilities. I believe we can do better. I believe it's possible that we can up our game, raise the bar on normal, shift the mean, reshape the bell curve, and reduce humanity's standard deviation.
Does that mean we can take humanity to the next level? Can we change human nature?
Well, before I get completely carried away, I recall an anecdote told by David Bourland, the E-Prime guy, that was told to him by M. Kendig, Korzybski's right-hand assistant who succeeded Korzybski as Director of the Institute of General Semantics after Korzybski's death.
David wrote:
Once, one of Korzybski's "senior grade" students (Kendig) said to Korzybski, "Together we can change the world!"
She told me that he replied, "Well, we might change you a little."
If you really have an interest in changing "human nature," perhaps it would work best if you begin with yourself.
And with that, I want to thank all of you for contributing to this learning experience. And now for me comes the period. And et cetera.