Videos with Alfred Korzybski

These videos have been edited by Steve Stockdale, integrating silent film of Alfred Korzybski from 1944-1949, audio recorded in 1948-1949, mixed with titles and effects.

Abstracting Explained by the Fan Disk

Korzybski discusses the mechanisms of the fan-disk phenomenon in the video below. His last published paper expands on this and provides perhaps his most cogent explanation of general semantics: The Role of Language in the Perceptual Processes. (The shaded highlights in this paper indicate comments that, according to my reading, have been proved out by the latest findings in neuroscience and neurobiology.)

Compare Korzybski’s “Demonstration of Abstracting” with his fan-disc (c. 1948) with the more sophisticated demonstrations by neurobiologist Christof Koch in 2005, posted here with Koch’s permission.

Korzybski Explains the Structural Differential

Audio from Korzybski’s “Historical Note on the Structural Differential” available from the Institute of General Semantics.

Korzybski’s Inspiration for the Structure Differential

Overview of Korzybski and General Semantics

This last video I prepared as part of a 50-minute presentation to the Amarillo Advertising Club in April 2009. The complete presentation, Lay Off of My PERSUADE Shoes, is available here.