memetica: method, object, discussion, application

Coming soon: "Vernacular and Specialized 'Information': About, for, and as Reality."
​
'The term “information” is used in many ways – so many ways that it can become meaningless, yet it persists. “Information” has become rhetorically “ideographic” – that is, minimally, it has become a buzzword that is used simply because it is used. Yet there is more to the term and concept than this. Information continues to be used probably because it remains one of, if not, the, best descriptors for the present age, particularly the 20th and now 21st century. This presentation shares a portion of the author’s current book project, Information Rhetorics forthcoming with Routledge. It highlights vernacular and specialized uses of the rhetoric and concept of information in Luciano Floridi’s terms of information being about, for, and as reality. Special attention is given to how information may look or operate across disciplines and domains.'

​Bennett-Carpenter, B. (March 2026 forthcoming). Zoom presentation to the annual meeting of the Interdisciplinary Studies section, Michigan Academy of Science, Arts & Letters, Virtual / Alma College, Michigan.

Call for Papers -- Michigan Academy of Science, Arts and Letters -- online conference -- open to regional, national, and international presenters -- from Michigan, the Great Lakes Region of North America, and/or from around the world.

Abstracts due by 23 January 2026. Online conference is Friday, 27 March 2026 (time slots 8:00 - 17:00 Eastern Time Zone).

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rTSa9xL-ng89BNvroUGY8tDeUsx-QG6f/view?usp=sharing

by Benjamin Bennett-Carpenter (forthcoming Routledge April 2026)

"Combining a rhetorical approach to the study of memes with profound philosophical concepts about information as a fundamental building block of existence, Information Rhetorics presents a framework for understanding the world through the lens of information transfer.

Drawing from rhetorical theory, semiotics, philosophy of information, and communications studies, the author explores how information - defined not as static facts but as transmitted significance and value - flows through both animate and inanimate realms. He examines how specialised terminologies function across disciplines while connecting to vernacular understandings of information transfer. By positioning memes as a heuristic tool, the author creates an interdisciplinary framework that illuminates economics, spirituality, and social theory.

This book will interest scholars, students, and researchers across disciplines, particularly those working in philosophy of information, rhetoric, semiotics, cultural studies and communication studies."

https://www.routledge.com/Information-Rhetorics-Memetics-and-the-Dream-of-Reverse-Engineering-Nature--Culture/Bennett-Carpenter/p/book/9781041194149

www.amazon.com/gp/product/1041194145/ref=ox_sc_saved_image_1?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1

Out now: L.A. (SO) THE STORY GOES (2025 | various artists | Inglés)

"L.A. (SO) the Story Goes reúne a quince artistas con sede en Los Ángeles y los empareja con escritores internacionales en ensayos que exploran la narrativa como método artístico transformador. A través de instalaciones, performances, vídeos y textos, los artistas abordan temas como la identidad, la memoria y el mito, desafiando las definiciones rígidas y abrazando la fluidez. La antología, comisariada por Prospect Art, destaca cómo las narrativas personales evolucionan hasta convertirse en resonancia colectiva. Las obras presentadas abordan cuestiones como la migración, el trauma y las crisis ecológicas, creando un arte que redefine el sentido de pertenencia y traza un mapa de la impermanencia con profundidad emocional y visión crítica."

"L.A. (SO) the Story Goes gathers fifteen Los Angeles-based artists and pairs them with international writers in essays that explore storytelling as a transformative artistic method. Through installations, performances, video, and text, the artists navigate themes of identity, memory, and myth, challenging rigid definitions and embracing fluidity. Curated by Prospect Art, the anthology highlights how personal narratives evolve into collective resonance. The featured works confront issues like migration, trauma, and ecological crises, creating art that redefines belonging and maps impermanence with emotional depth and critical insight."

Ensayo | Investigación | Política
Coedición con Prospect Arts
2025
Primera edición
12.5 cm x 19.5 cm
152 pp.
Inglés
Impreso en risografía

18 USD

https://www.gatonegro.ninja/archivo
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'In a phenomenology of memetica, we have the experience of it and the “appearance(s)” of it / “presentation” of it.
 
We have memetica as a lived experience and memetica as an abstraction: as an object of observation, analysis/interpretation, evaluation, and “position” and/or decision/direction-making.

-Fragments of Memetica, No. ​35.  [20210213]

'LOCAL MEMETICA: THREE INSTANCES OF GENIUS LOCI
Abstract/proposal accepted for the 48th Semiotic Society of America annual conference
Toronto, Canada, 30 October – 03 November 2024

Abstract:  “Memetica” is an ongoing project that seeks to expand the concept of semiosphere to include
not only the living, bio-psycho-social world but also the non-living, physico-spatio-temporal world,
including the geographical.  Memetica capitalizes upon the popular rhetoric of memes as a way into the
more profound discussion of information and semiotics, advancing the idea that signification constitutes
the very fabric of our social and natural existence.  Such signification is not primarily abstract but, rather,
is particular to localized instances: specific places within demarcated time frames.  In this
paper/presentation, I discuss three exemplar instances of dynamic local semiotics.  These exemplars
include Niagara’s whirlpool (water); Handwoven Drawings at Detroit’s Matéria (artwork); and a Buffalo,
New York, to Las Vegas relocation (conceptual mapping).  All with origins in the Great Lakes and
proximity to Toronto, these particular cases are where I most dramatically witness the ancient genius loci
at play here and now.

Keywords: memetica; information; semiotics; nature; artwork; geography'

Aristotle's humble gym, Athens (August, 2023)

'We are part of the “world” of memetica, but we are also set over “against” it or “correlated” to it.
 
This makes for a weird experience of being caught up within “in it” and even being very much “of it” but also coming to awareness of these facts and thus creating some intellectual, emotional, and existential distance from them.'

-Fragments of Memetica, No. ​34.  [20210213]

'There’s the entire ecology of “it all”.
 
Then there’s the entire “ecology of it all” for you and me – humans, communities, cohorts, various groups – and then also individually:
 
-“it all” for you
 
-“it all” for me
​
And then there’s “snapshots”, cases, or examples from within the ecology – a part of the whole that also is the whole, in part.  Keeping in mind different ways that parts may relate to wholes – especially in either reductionist terms or complexity terms:
 
-a part as a piece, or
 
-a part as a constituent participant of the whole (cf. Sokolowski; K. Burke).'

-Fragments of Memetica,  No. 33.  [20210207]

'Phenomenology can be complementary and in synch with evolutionary cognitive science in, to begin with, accepting that the very structures and processes of our perception and cognition are already part of the universe/world we humans attempt to objectify. 

On the one hand, there has to be a certain resignation to the limits of our cognition in fathoming what is “other” than us.  On the other hand, methods and tools of science can catapult us above our baseline cognitive (and physical) capacities.  Not to mention A.I.
 
“Constitutive” and “other”.'

-Fragments of Memetica, 32., pt 2.  [20210130]

'When talking about memetica or the rhetoric of “information” it can be challenging to sort out the entire issue of what’s “out there” and what’s “in here” – or what are we humans projecting (and to some extent constructing) on the world vs what is “really there”.  This is a classic can of worms that goes by many names and is a basic problem in philosophy – but, really, though we shouldn’t spend overly too much time on it because it is a false dichotomy and is not really an ultimate problem.
 
Here perhaps turning to some of the resources of phenomenology can help us through.  Our consciousness already is embedded in, constituted by, and connected with the world.  We are already a part of it.  “We’re swimming in it.”'

Fragments of Memetica, No. ​32, pt. 1.  [20210130]