Papers by Colin John Campbell
The Book of Radical General Semantics, Vol. III, 2024
A feverishly paranoid mood seems to have gripped the world 2023 over the question of artificial '... more A feverishly paranoid mood seems to have gripped the world 2023 over the question of artificial 'intelligence'. On one hand, a chorus of industrial preachers project the semantic phantom of AI as a potentially maleficent and uncontrollable entity. They do not explicitly use words like 'demon' or 'ghost,' which would operate as terms of derision their technocratic lexicon; they leave it to legions of confused and deprived humans to express literally magical views on 'social' media.
In this piece I consider the marvellous approach to AI both explained and implied by Roger Penrose in _The Emperor's New Mind_, and compare and contrast his work with some central concepts and practices of general semantics.
A comparative analysis of the sociology of Louis Hartz and the ecological thinking of Gregory Bat... more A comparative analysis of the sociology of Louis Hartz and the ecological thinking of Gregory Bateson, highlighting Hartz' critique of monolithic liberalism as an order based on an excessive valuation of the capacity of conscious purpose and voluntary agreement to form the basis of society and social communication.
In this brief essay I explore McLuhan's theory of media as an exploration in poetic logic that re... more In this brief essay I explore McLuhan's theory of media as an exploration in poetic logic that remains tied in certain respects to Aristotelian metaphysics, and that this tie is what leads to a sense of technological determinism in McLuhan's work. I use insights from general semantics to re-interpret the phrase 'the medium is the message' as a poetic evocation of the primary importance of context as the depth-structure of all verbal and non-verbal meaning.
Abstract: Beyond Vengeance offers a close and comparative reading of the work of Georges Bataille... more Abstract: Beyond Vengeance offers a close and comparative reading of the work of Georges Bataille and Ren? Girard and then brings them into productive relation with the political theory of Jean-Jacques Rousseau. The mutual incompatibility of Bataille and Girard as ...
Teaching Documents by Colin John Campbell
The syllabus for a 2021 instance of my course, "Culture and Communication," at OCADU. The course... more The syllabus for a 2021 instance of my course, "Culture and Communication," at OCADU. The course included readings from Gregory Bateson, lectures on communication in infants and Cetaceans, on Homeric poetry and the problem of colonialism, and Indigenous literature, as well as policy analysis.
This course introduced students to issues and debates in political thought, with a special emphas... more This course introduced students to issues and debates in political thought, with a special emphasis on the concepts and theoretical arguments that give shape to Canadian politics, both historically and in our contemporary moment.
My 2017 instance of the course "Reading Popular Culture," for the Department of Liberal Arts and ... more My 2017 instance of the course "Reading Popular Culture," for the Department of Liberal Arts and Sciences at OCADU. The course was premised on the problematic centrality of Dionysian traditions to pop culture; an opening prelude situated 20th and 21st century pop culture themes in the long duree beginning with Greek tragedy (Euripides' _Bacchae_) and then carried forward through Shakespeare (_Twelfth Night_). Texts were illustrated by rich video content throughout, and special focus of the course on music was captured in the syllabus design, resembling a long playing record album.
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Papers by Colin John Campbell
In this piece I consider the marvellous approach to AI both explained and implied by Roger Penrose in _The Emperor's New Mind_, and compare and contrast his work with some central concepts and practices of general semantics.
Teaching Documents by Colin John Campbell
In this piece I consider the marvellous approach to AI both explained and implied by Roger Penrose in _The Emperor's New Mind_, and compare and contrast his work with some central concepts and practices of general semantics.