mind map | semiotics

In order to understand the school of semiotics, I created a semiotic mind map.

sign | structural meaning

The sign has two aspects, which may be reflected in the form:

The signifier is the physical entity which expresses the sign: the sound, shape or texture. the signified is the concept or emotion conveyed byt the sign.

Signification, the link between expression and concept, depends upon rules, codes, which are tacitly accepted by a community, and these rules are area which semiotics seeks to explore.

Signs rarely occur in a fragmented, isolated fashion; if they did the possibilities for human communication would be much more limited.

rosarch test | indeterminacy

The Rorschach test; also known as the Rorschach inkblot test, the Rorschach technique, or simply the ink blot test) is a psychological test in which subjects' perceptions of inkblots are recorded and then analysed using psychological interpretation, complex scientifically derived algorithms, or both. 

Some psychologists use this test to examine a person's personality characteristics and emotional functioning. It has been employed to detect underlying thought disorder, especially in cases where patients are reluctant to describe their thinking processes openly. The test is named after its creator, Swiss psychologist Hermann Rorschach.

It offeres an interesting insight into the architecture of indeterminacy and the arbitrary nature of signifiers. 

It makes me question...if I see a building as it is...does everyone else see it as I do? Or am I missing something they have seen, or are they missing something that I have seen?

humpty dumpty | the master of the signifier

'There's glory for you!'

'I don't know what you mean by "glory",' Alice said.

Humpty Dumpty smiled contemptuously. 'Of course you don't — till I tell you. I meant "there's a nice knock-down argument for you!"'

'But "glory" doesn't mean "a nice knock-down argument",' Alice objected.

'When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, 'it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.'

'The question is,' said Alice, 'whether you can make words mean so many different things.'

'The question is,' said Humpty Dumpty, 'which is to be master — that's all.'

zhuang zi 庄子 | words + meaning

荃者所以在魚，得魚而忘荃；

蹄者所以在兔，得兔而忘蹄；

言者所以在意，得意而忘言。

吾安得忘言之人而與之言哉?

"The fish trap exists because of the fish; once you've gotten the fish, you can forget the trap. The rabbit snare exists because of the rabbit; once you've gotten the rabbit you can forget the snare. Words exist because of meaning; once you've gotten the meaning you can forget the words. Where can I find a man who has forgotten words so I can have a word with him?"

time | as signifier

Time travel in the classic sense has no place in rational theory, but temporal distortion does exist on the quantum level, and more importantly it can be controlled.

Academician Prokhor Zakharov, "For I Have Tasted the Fruit" from Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri