Semantic Reactions

Our June 2026 episode features author, scientist, and social commentator David Brin. In an interview conducted by IGS President Lance Strate, he discusses his career as a science fiction writer, including the adaptation of his novel, The Postman , by Kevin Costner. He also discusses his views on science and democracy, technology and society, and current and future developments in AI programming, a...

Our May 2026 episode features German attorney-at-law Dace Luters-Thümmel, a member of the German and Latvian Courts and Bar Associations, a member of the Consultative Committee ALI-ELI Project "Principles of a Data Economy", and a nominee for the 2020 European Women of Legal Tech Award. In conversation with IGS President Lance Strate, she discusses the value of multilingualism, the differences bet...

Our April 2026 episode features author, educator, and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Sarah L. Kaufman. As the Washington Post 's chief dance critic, she wrote about the arts, entertainment, and society for 27 years. In conversation with IGS President Lance Strate, she discusses her career as a journalist and writer, dance as a form of expression, the concept of grace, and the art of writing, an...

Our March 2026 episode features Peggy Cassidy, Thom Gencarelli, and Lance Strate discussing media ecology and general semantics. Their conversation follows up on a program sponsored by the New York Society for General Semantics,, and touches on topics such as the influence of general semantics on media ecology, sense perception and the human nervous system, language and symbolic form, orality and...

Our February 2026 episode features award-winning Canadian documentarian Kevin McMahon, the director of approximately 30 films, including McLuhan's Wake (2002). In conversation with Lance Strate, he discusses his career as a journalist and filmmaker, the practice of making documentaries, the idea of nonfiction film, and media scholars Marshall McLuhan and Neil Postman. 

Our January 2026 episodes features IGS trustees Corey Anton, Susan Drucker, Thom Gencarelli, and Lance Strate discussing politics in the United States in light of recent events in Minneapolis. Their conversation deals with the concerns brought on by the current media and semantic environment, the use of cell phone cameras and video recordings, the introduction of deep fakes, information overload a...

Our December 2025 episode features  Susan Drucker, who is an IGS Trustee, Professor of Journalism at Hofstra University, and a founder of the Urban Communication Foundation, and Erik Garrett, a professor of communication and rhetoric at Duquesne University and a member of the Urban Communication Foundation's Board of Directors. In conversation with IGS President Lance Strate, they discuss areas of...

Our November 2025 episode features a recording of an IGS sponsored session that took place at the annual meeting of the National Communication Association. The program entitled Perspectives on Politics and the Future of Democracy that included IGS trustees Corey Anton, Peggy Cassidy, Susan Drucker, Thom Gencarelli, and Lance Strate. Their discussion touched on a variety of topics, including Alfred...

Our October 2025 episode features author, filmmaker, and IGS trustee Nora Bateson, who is also president of the International Bateson Institute and the creator of the Warm Data Labs initiative. Her conversation with IGS president Lance Strate centers on the current sense that we are experiencing multiple crises, or what has been referred to as a polycrisis or metacrisis. They also touch on topics...

Our September 2025 episode features Cristina Knopf, a professor of Communication and Media Studies at the State University of New York at Cortland, in conversation with IGS president Lance Strate. Their discussion focuses on her research in comics studies and reflections on the comic book medium, its history, and the superhero genre, as well as the depiction of superheroes in movies and television...

Our August 2025 episode features coaches Keith Clark and Ted Delicath, in conversation with IGS president Lance Strate, discussing the CORO Fellows Program in Public Affairs and its relation to general semantics, as well as related topics such as leadership, governance, listening,  cybernetics, and journalism. 

Our July 2025 installment features writer and journalist Ryan Zickgraf, the author of an op-ed on the continuing relevance of Neil Postman's best known book, Amusing Ourselves to Death that was recently published by the Washington Post . IGS president Lance Strate conducts the interview, which touches on politics and democracy, gamergate, the effects of screens and social media on public discourse...

Our June 2025 installment 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.

Our May 2025 installment features five of our IGS Trustees on the state of higher education in the United States today. The conversation is led by IGS President Lance Strate who teaches at Fordham University, and includes IGS Vice-President Corey Anton of Grand Valley State University, IGS Treasurer Thom Gencarelli of Manhattan University, and IGS Trustees Peggy Cassidy of Adelphi University and S...

Our April 2025 installment features the return of author, financier, and IGS Trustee Christopher Mayer to discuss the current economic situation in the United States with IGS President Lance Strate. Their dialogue emphasizes how general semantics can help us to understand financial concepts such as the trade deficit, tariffs, inflation, and even money itself.

Our March 2025 installment features the return of author, scholar, and critic Marleen Barr to discuss her recently published anthology entitled, Jewish Women Science Fiction Writers Create Future Females , with IGS President Lance Strate.

Our February 2025 podcast features IGS President Lance Strate interviewing writer, musician, artist, and author of the recently published book, Chapel Perilous: The Life and Thought of Robert Anton Wilson , Gabriel Kennedy, aka Prop Anon. Their discussion deals with the life and work of Robert Anton Wilson and how he was greatly influenced by Alfred Korzybski and general semantics, as well as Gabr...

Our January 2025 podcast features IGS President Lance Strate interviewing computer programmer and activist Brianna Wu. Their conversation covers Gamergate, feminism, transexual issues, and politics and activism. 

Our December 2024 podcast features IGS President Lance Strate interviewing computer scientist and IGS Past President Jeff Mordkowitz. Their conversation covers the history of general semantics and the Institute, approaches to teaching general semantics, the importance of the non-verbal or silent level, and Mordkowitz's Seven Simple Steps to Sanity. 

Our November 2024 episode departs from our usual format as IGS President Lance Strate shares the Balvant Parekh Memorial Lecture that he recently delivered in India for the Balvant Parekh Centre for General Semantics and other Human Sciences. The lecture, entitled "The Message, the Meaning, and the Medium," ties together general semantics, behaviorism, information theory and cybernetics, and media...

Our October 2024 podcast features IGS Trustees Eva Berger, Corey Anton, and Lance Strate taking part a controversial discussion on some of the most recent developments in artificial intelligence and language models and their implications for the future, as well as their connections to general semantics.

Our September 2024 episode features an interview with author, New York Law School professor, and former president of the American Civil Liberties Union, Nadine Strossen, conducted by IGS trustees Lance Strate and Susan Drucker. Their conversation centers on legal issues such as free speech in the context of contemporary American politics and culture. 

Our August 2024 episode features Corey Anton and Thom Gencarelli discussing general semantics and politics, based on the recent special issues of the IGS's quarterly journal, ETC: A Review of General Semantics . In conversation with Lance Strate, they talk about Corey Anton's role as guest editor working together with Thom Gencarelli as ETC editor in chief, and their plans for publishing an anthol...

Our July 2024 episode departs from our usual format, and instead features a series of short take interviews conducted in conjunction with the IGS's summer seminar entitled, Navigating the Now: A Guide to Recognizing What is Going On , which was held at the October Gallery in London, England, on July 25th to 27th, 2024. Over the course of the three days, Lance Strate recorded the ruminations and ev...

Our June 2024 episode was recorded at a local radio station in the city of Gold Coast in Australia, and features Australian media personality and researcher, Renée Peterson. Renée has spent over two decades as a media industry professional in Australia and the US, as a radio and television producer, writer, and on-air broadcaster,and is currently completing her doctoral degree at the Royal Melbour...