SEMIOTIC ENGINEERING
Institute for the Study of Societies and Knowledge, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences
Abstract
Semiotic engineering is designed to transform the natural hierarchy of signs and meanings – so as to gain effective control on individual and mass consciousness and action. First, through several social illustrations, we’ll consider how symbols are converted into meanings, or what are called “magic signs”. Next, we’ll see how meanings degrade into mere signs.
This presentation is somehow remote from the focus of the current Congress panel; yet, not desperately remote; because, it also has to do with the breaking of boundaries; this time – of the boundaries between symbols and reality; or in other words – between signs and meanings. We shall see here:
· First, how signs mutate into meanings and
· Second, how meanings devolve into mere signs. But we shall start with.
1. Semiotic determinism, or the natural hierarchy of signs and meanings
In physical determinism an object directly produces a causal effect.
Fig. 1 Physical determinism: schematic representation
From semiotic point of view, however, the agents that act upon us should not be considered as mere physical objects, but as signs. The interaction with these semiotic agents is not a mere physical process, but a process of communication. This communication does not result into an immediate causal reaction; communication starts with an act of semiotic interpretation, which discloses the agents’ meanings.
Fig. 2 Communication begins with an act of semiotic interpretation
Our reaction is not determined by the physical nature of the signs that act upon us; our reaction is determined by their meanings.
In semiotic determinism:
· first, a sign induces an interpretation;
· next, its meaning produces an action (effect).
Fig. 3 Semiotic determinism: schematic representation
An example:
Let us imagine that in the bustle of a crowded city street or on public transport, one of the nearby bystanders or passengers has unintentionally collided with me, or has stepped on my foot. – If things develop in a causal physical reality, my reaction would be either to fall or swerve out of the way, i.e. I’m also supposed to counteract in a mechanical manner. In practice, however, nothing like that happens. Most often the guilty bystander or passenger apologizes for the offense, and the victim politely accepts the apology without undertaking any physical response.
Another example:
The same occurs when we are exposed to extreme physical effects, e.g. heat or cold. Or rain. We may completely ignore these physical agents, especially when our mind is focused on a completely different matter than weather. But one can experience a sense of frost or even pain, or pleasure, or horror, if one reads an exciting description or watches the same experience on the TV screen.
Thus we come to the natural semiotic hierarchy of signs and meanings. – Our behaviour is not controlled by the physical impact of the symbolic material structures with which we directly communicate, but by the meanings that we assign them in their conceptual interpretation. Or, to put it shortly: Meanings have priority over signs. Or, still in other words:
Meanings are deterministically superior to signs.
This immediately takes us to semiotic engineering and its chief objective. Semiotic engineering is designed to transform the natural hierarchy of signs and meanings – so as to gain effective control on individual and mass consciousness and action.
We’ll consider first how symbols are converted into meanings, or what are called.
2. Magic signs
As an illustration, we begin with
2.1. The ancient symbols of power as tools for the production of social dominance:
2.1.1. The crown
The crown is a kind of business accessory – say, something like a ritual uniform cap. In point of fact, it hardly owns some of the functional amenities even of a simple hat. By contrast, however, the crown is breathtaking; it is made out of gold, studded with precious stones, it is a masterpiece of fine jewellery; gold is a precious, a noble metal, it screams to the hierarchically subordinated community – “The bearer of this is the supreme lord!”
Besides, if the head is the main attribute of the hierarchical symbolism of mass consciousness, the cap is not only its pragmatic or aesthetic enhancement, but its indexical sign; a sign that indicates the presence and magnitude of a social persona. This is true equally for VIP persons, and for the regular social individual.
In this sense, if the cap is a natural indexical sign of personal hierarchical value, it is with much greater reason that we can affirm that the bearer of the gold crown is nothing else than the Capo di tutti capi.
2.1.2. The throne
Unlike the crown that may be too "heavy" or even be "made out of thorns“, the throne is a very comfortable chair; besides that it has all the aesthetic and suggestive effects of the crown plus the already mentioned functional comfort, the throne acts as a semiotic tool for the production of social superiority and subordination in a very literal way. I mean, it is literally lifted and usually marked with unapproachable designation strips separating its beneficial owner from the community with which he communicates.
2.1.3. The sceptre
The sceptre can be a comfortable or uncomfortable, but in any case a very stylish stick, or rod, like how you call it. But the most significant about the sceptre is depicted by its handle; so overall, the sceptre is not just a stick or a rod, but one whose handle depicts a snake. – Which may not bring very comfortable associations to the uninitiated user of this accessory, but to those more or less aware of the story of the biblical prophet Moses and the Egyptian priests, all of them able, just with a click of the fingers, to convert rods into snakes and vice versa, things look differently.
2.1.4. The orb
“The globus cruciger (Latin, [cross-bearing orb]) is an orb (lat. globus) topped (lat. gerere = to wear) with a cross (lat. crux), a Christian symbol of authority used throughout the Middle Ages and even today on coins, iconography and royal regalia. It symbolises Christ's (the cross) dominion over the world (the orb), literally held in the dominion of an earthly ruler (or sometimes celestial being such as an angel).” (Globus cruciger…2014: n.p.)
And, another quotation from the same source:
“A crystal ball is a crystal or glass ball believed by some people to aid in the performance of clairvoyance. It is sometimes known as a shew stone (or show stone— "shew" is an archaic spelling of "show"). A body of water, either in a container or on the ground, used for this purpose, is called a scrying pool. (Crystal ball…:2014 n.p.)
Isn’t the royal orb also an analogue of the magic crystal ball; a symbol of the monarch’s magic clairvoyance and strategic vision of the state’s and the nation’s fortune: their historical past and future, the connection with the magic powers that drive the universe; a smart tool for encrypted direct optical communication with them?
2.1.5. The letter of authorization
Such semiotic tool, having the same magical power to produce the superiority of its bearer in the face of its addressees can be not only a natural or an iconic symbol, but also a very conventional plain text. In fact – every document. We might consider any document, any power of attorney, any authorization, but let’s for fun recall that described in Dumas’ “The Three Musketeers”, which reads something like that:
“Dec. 3, 1627 It is by my order and for the good of the state that the bearer of this has done what he has done. Richelieu” (Dumas. The Three Musketeers…:2014 n.p.)
2.2. Magical symbols
These are symbols that have the power of their meaning. They are tantamount to their meaning, and sometimes, stronger. They can substitute their meaning and the actions performed on them have existential significance to the object they indicate.
Thus, in Spielberg’s, “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom”, the young film hero (Short Round) became a target and a victim of such magic manipulation produced by a devotee of Goddess Kali. The magic consisted in that the shaman made a doll image of the addressee of the sinister message and began physical assault on the doll that was instantly projected onto the corresponding body points of the hapless prey. – The magic; its impact, its direct action upon the sign, were depicted with algebraic precision upon the referent.
The conception of the magical signs is developed by Bronislaw Malinowski (1884 – 1942) in a number of his studies in semiotic ethnography. (Malinowski 1922)
An excellent introduction to the concept of the magic function of language could be Malinowski’s insightful observation of on the role of language in infancy. Already in the first months, the infant discovers the magical role of words as a tool to induce its needful conditions and events. The infant understands how the very mention of a word is enough for the indicated object to appear, and the unwanted – to disappear as if by magic wand.
“Words are to a child active forces, they give him an essential hold on reality, they provide him with the only effective means of moving, attracting and repulsing outer things and of producing changes in all that is relevant.” (Ogden and Richards 1927: 321)
“[…] we are made to realize how deeply rooted is the belief that a word has some power over a thing, that it participates of the nature of the thing, that it is akin or even identical in its contained 'meaning' with the thing or with its prototype.” (Ogden and Richards 1927: 322)
“The word gives power, allows one to exercise an influence over an object or an action.” (Ogden and Richards 1927: 322)
Of course, that today's social elite has a number of residual from the past, rudimentary symbols to produce meanings of social dominance, especially in the face of the common people: a car produced in Bavaria, brand clothing and accessories at the same unit price, gold trinkets, smart phones, tablets and the like gadgets... Still, the very holders of such rudimentary symbolic inventory impeccably understand that their hierarchical power has nothing to do with it. They well sense, or rather feel that it comes from the magical abuse of their social status. What is really important is power itself, the very possession of the power position, its magic.
However, the position of power is merely an ultimate sign of power, but it is not power itself. To identify the power position itself with its actual meaning, with the real social status and function of its holder, means to attribute a magical function to this position; this means to identify this particular social symbol with its actual and functional meaning.
3. How meanings degrade into mere signs
We first saw how signs turned into meanings. Now we’ll see how meanings degrade into mere signs.
It is the second magical abuse that is done nowadays by the bearers of the semiotic tools of power, the inhabitants of the highest political and administrative positions. – The authoritative position turns into an end in itself – alien to the quality, content and expertise that lie behind the symbols of their status.
The acquisition of power is not only the alpha, but alas – the omega of modern political practice. Serious policy ends with the acquisition of power. Election victory is a symbolic act that in the rulers’ view is equivalent to the solution of all social, national and global problems. Their political practice is indeed magical as it identifies the acquisition of political power with the practical realization of their (election) political platform.
There are two ways of violating the natural semiotic hierarchy of signs and meanings, or in other words – of putting signs above meanings:
1) Magic signs, i.e. signs which have mutated into meanings; the crown is the king’s supremacy;
2) Devolution of meanings in which they degrade into empty signs; the election victory is the realization of the election program; the meaning of the symbol is depleted with it, itself.
It is worrying that modern science does not stand aside from this alarming semiotic devolution. One sometimes feels that modern scientific practice has also lost its meaning and has been reduced to a symbolic ritual for the acquisition of signs of social dominance and prestige. It seems sometimes that it is no more a quest for knowledge; rather it is a hunt for positions, for titles, for omnifarious signs of social dominance and their conversion into financial and even political capital.
Scholarly debates often seem not to be connected with a real change in the vector of scientific research; they rather seem to be no more than a master exercise of the potency of the purely symbolic, ritual, magic side of the scientific position; the aerobatics of the mages and the weird sisters of modern science.
References:
CRYSTAL BALL. 2014. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crystal_ball (last accessed: 21 September 2014)
DUMAS. The Three Musketeers. 2014. In The Free Library by Farflex, http://dumas.thefreelibrary.com/Three-Musketeers/1-67 (last accessed: 12 December 2014)
GLOBUS CRUCIGER. 2014. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Globus_cruciger (last accessed: 13 November 2014)
MALINOWSKI, Bronsilaw. 1922. Argonauts of the Western Pacific. An Account of Native Enterprise and Adventure in the Archipelagoes of Melanesian New Guinea. London: Rutledge & Kegan Paul Ltd.; New York: E. P. Button & Company, Inc.
OGDEN, Charles & Ivor RICHARDS. The Meaning of Meaning: A Study of the Influence of Language upon Thought and of the Science of Symbolism. With supplementary essays by Bronisław Malinowski and Francis Crookshank. 1927. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, Inc.; London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner and Co Ltd.