Meaning in Life and the Life of Meaning - Sonic Bloom 2016
Channel: Meaning Is Alive
Date: 2020-03-14

Signs: Those things which are meaningful to those who interpret them.
Semiosis: The activity of signs, meaning in action.
Semiotics: The study of signs and semiosis.

The basic question of Semiotics is: "why does this mean what it means?"

Life is a rich process of signs and interpretation, even at the most basic level. Life has evolved towards greater degrees of complexity and thus greater degrees of semiotic freedom, or in other words, the freedom to interpret. We humans have developed to a point where we use language to describe and understand the relations we perceive and interpret. As such, it might be said that while all life engages in semiosis, we engage in semiotics.

The way in which we use language gives us incredible freedom in how we interpret our world--and in how we create it. Every time we use a word, we are affecting our experience in reality, both perceptually by means of sound and cognitively as we train our thinking.

This presentation is about the incredible power we, as linguistic, semiotic beings, have in creating our reality. "What does this experience mean to me?" You actually have quite a bit of choice in how you answer this question. The answer you give has quite significant implications. Join me in exploring some of these. :)

This is the presentation I gave at Sonic Bloom in 2016. It was my first time presenting my ideas in a public venue like this and it was quite a bit of fun.


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