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(Some
of
the)
AGS
Events
in
2026
Saturday 21st
February 2026
10am Sydney time
"Comprehending
Interpersonal
Conflicts: Theory of
Mind,
Meta-Cognition,
and The Perennial
Relevance of R. D.
Lainge"
Presenter: Corey
Anton PhD
<See the recording>
This interactive
talk addresses
relations between
theory of mind,
meta-cognition and
the
psychotherapeutic
methodology
developed by Laing,
Phillipson and Lee,
called, the
"Interpersonal
Perception Method."
We
include:
* an overview of key
concepts,
* clarification of
the concepts with
examples,
exercises to show
how these ideas shed
insight into
conflict,
* and finally, an
exploration of the
relevance of these
ideas to
contemporary
concerns,
over generative AI
chatbots and social
robots.
Dr Corey
Anton is
Professor of
Communication
Studies at Grand
Valley State
University and a
Fellow of the
International
Communicology
Institute and
currently serves as
Vice-President of
the Institute of
General Semantics.
He is author of
Selfhood and
Authenticity
(2001, SUNY Press),
Communication
Uncovered: General
Semantics and Media
Ecology (2010,
IGS Press), and
A.EYE CANDY: A
Museum of Imaginary
Robots and Other
Digital Delights
(2023, IGS Press),
etc. He is the
co-editor, along
with Thom
Gencarelli, of
General Semantics
and Politics,
(2025, IGS Press).
See
Corey Anton's web
site
Exercises:
In a mythical land
there are truars
(who tell the truth
all the time) and
liars (who lie all
the time). You are
lost and meet two
locals. You ask them
“Are you truars or
liars?” The first
person mumbles
something you don’t
hear. The other says
“He said he is a
truar. He is a truar
and so am I.” Would
you trust the
directions these two
give you?
Apply
Interpersonal
Perception Method
and a bit of logic.
Express how this is
solved using both
the direct
perspective as well
as the
meta-perspective.
From a
cartoon:
Message from parents
to teenager who
going out partying:
“Be home by
midnight. No later!”
Message teenager
hears: “Be home . .
. later!” He does
not reply to them.
Apply Interpersonal
Perception Method to
check for:
agreement,
understanding and
being understood and
finally do they
realise that they
have been understood
or misunderstood.
Hint: you have to
“read between the
lines” and fill in
the missing meta and
meta meta ideas.
When:
Logon after 10:00 am
(Sydney time) for a
chat with others and
a 10:15 am seminar
start. We end for
lunch around 1 pm.
Logon after 6 pm
Friday 20th February
New York time. 5 pm
Central time zone.
Please check your
time zone.
Where:
Zoom meeting: Covid and flu safe!
Or visit our web
site:
www.ags.org.au
Cost:
Free for Zoom
participants.
Saturday 11th
April 2026 10am Sydney time
"General
Semantics
(GS )
Journey -
From
Ignorance to
Mastery and
Beyond"
Presenter: David
Hewson
<See the
video
recording>
and
<PDF file of
the
Presentation>
General Semantics (GS) Journey: From Ignorance to Mastery and Beyond
Stages of learning applied to GS.
1) Unconscious incompetence, where the learner is unaware of their skill deficit. They have Aristotelian habits and unaware of it and it’s consequences. Ignorant of their ignorance of GS.
2) Conscious incompetence, where the learner recognises their lack of skill, poor premises or unsane behaviour. They become aware of Aristotelian habits and lack of non-Aristotelian skills. Due to their awareness of their incompetence, they become motivated to learn GS. Mistakes are common here, and frustration can occur. Learning the formulations, i.e. gaining data they can parrot back.
3) Conscious competence, when the learner can perform the skill, but it requires concentration.
a) Understanding the formulations, i.e. gaining information.
b) Applying formulations, i.e. gaining knowledge.
c) Doing more practice can help, i.e. gaining skill.
4) Unconscious competence, where the learner has mastered the skill to the point of being able to perform it without conscious thought.
Skills become habitual.
a) For example, after many years of GS, you can spot errors without thinking too much about it. You chunk a whole lot of detail.
b) Mastering application of GS formulations, i.e. gaining wisdom. When to use what formulation, when and how.
c) Relating it to other knowledge, i.e. gaining the ability to transfer the skills to new areas.
5) The Educator stage, in which people have the ability to teach the skill and empathise with learners, at all the previous stages.
Better metaknowledge, that can be used to teach GS to others.
a) Reflective ability about the other GS stages and transitions from one stage to another.
b) It describes the ability of the individual to explain and simplify the steps involved in performing a task.
The individual can also empathise with learners in stages one to four. This stage usually requires these individuals to reflect on the strategies
they use to complete tasks and help new learners understand these strategies. The fifth stage requires a deep understanding of the skill, that is taught.
6) A (sixth) Research stage is that of extending the skill and knowledge of general semantics, i.e. research that brings in new useful knowledge and skills.
New knowledge pushing the boundaries e.g. Korzybski in researching Science and Sanity.
So this level extends the formulations.
A person can be at different stages for different formulations and skills.
References
For more details, watch the recorded session or read some of the following books and articles:
Conscious Competence Ladder made by Noel Burch (Google has lots on this topic)
The Complete Problem Solver by John Hayes for methods to improve your learning
General Semantics Seminar 1937: Olivet College lectures by Alfred Korzybski
The Uncritical inference Test by William Haney 1965
Understanding in a World of Words by Catherine Minteer
Seven Phases in Learning General Semantics by Catherine Minteer in “Thinking Creatically”
Seven Stages of Expertise in Software Engineering by Meilir Page-Jones
Shu Ha Ri is a three-stage Japanese martial arts and mastery framework, in, SCRUM by Dr Jeff Sutherland 2014 (or Google it for more detail)
Is of Identity test by Weis
4 levels of knowledge in Pragmatics of Human Communication by Watzlawick, Bevan and Jackson
The Art of Awareness by Samuel Bois
A Five-Stage Model of the Mental Activities Involved in Directed Skill Acquisition by Dreyfus, Stuart E.; Dreyfus, Hubert L
<See the video recording of today's seminar> and <PDF file of the Presentation>
Saturday 11th
June 2026 10am Sydney time
"Bois: The Art of Awareness: a Handbook on Epistemice and General Semantics"
Presenter: Jaison Tremain
<See the
video
recording>
 We met for Jaison Tremain's presentation an introduction to J. Samuel Bois's
“The Art Of Awareness : A Handbook on Epistemics and General Semantics (fifth edition).”
Jaison will introduce the history and definition of Bois’s up-to-date Epistemics as being derived from Classical Epistemology and as having emerged from General Semantics.
Part I of the book is titled ‘Evaluating’ so I plan to introduce/explore key concepts such as ‘evaluate our evaluations’ as the foundation for the art of awareness and Bois’s ‘Individuals as Semantic Transactors’ mental model, etc..
So, what is Bois’s up-to-date epistemics / epistemology?
“Epistemology is the science of our meaning activities; it involves inquiries into how we know what we know, and what are the core assumptions that hold our knowledge of the world, including ourselves, together in a way that makes sense to us. Technically speaking, epistemics can be described as applied epistemology."
Saturday 15th
August 2026 10am Sydney time
"Creative Problem Solving
- Unlocking our
Creative
Potential"
Presenter:
David Hewson
We
learned
to transform the
way we solve
problems,
develop
innovative
thinking,
effective
problem solving,
and practical
skills for
tackling
problems
confidently.
This
Creative Problem
Solving seminar
was designed to
unlock your
innovative
thinking, boost
our creativity,
and equip us
with practical
tools to tackle
almost any
problem.
Whether we
are a
professional,
entrepreneur,
student,
politician or
lifelong
learner, it
offers hands on
activities, real
world examples,
with guidance to
unlock our
creative
potential.
Where:
Zoom meeting:
Cost:
Free for Zoom
participants.
Seminar Outline
* Why use
structured
problem solving
strategies?
Because they are
more effective
and efficient as
well as often
giving higher
quality
solutions.
* Define the
structure of a
problem as a gap
between the
current state
and goal state
with some
difficulty in
between them.
* What makes
problems hard to
solve? Also
knows as
difficulties,
blocks or
barriers.
* How to make
problem solving
easier by
splitting the
problem up into
6 smaller
sub-problems.
These are:
1. Finding the best problem to solve.
2. Defining your problem.
3. Generating possible solutions.
4. Deciding on the best solution.
5. Implementing the solution chosen.
6. Evaluating the outcome and learning from it.
The seminar
mainly
concentrated on
the first 3
steps and how to
avoid some
common errors
like jumping
straight into
solving the
problem before
carefully
defining it.
Suggested
Reading
* “Strategies
for Creative
Problem Solving”
by Scott Fogler
and Steven
LeBlanc.
* “The Logic of
Failure:
Recognizing and
Avoiding Error
in Complex
Situations”
by Dietrich
Dorner
* “The Fifth
Discipline…”
by Peter Senge.
Saturday 15th August 2026 (Following Seminar)
Australian General Semantics Society Inc.
Annual General Meeting
<Click here for the juicy details of the Minutes and Reports>
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