Forthcoming in October/November 2026 with R. Szostak: 

"One & Many, Again: Revisiting the Philosophy of Interdisciplinarity."   

Panel for the annual meeting of the Association for Interdisciplinary Studies.  Organized by B. Bennett-Carpenter, R. Szostak, and the AIS 2026 organizing committee.

Hosted in partnership by Florida State University, Florida A&M University, and the University of Mississippi.   Panama City Beach, Florida, Oct/Nov 2026 forthcoming.

https://interdisciplinarystudies.org/conference-2026/

"‘Memento vivere’, ‘life, now’ addresses how we humans have lived, do live, and shall live.  It’s an injunction to Wake Up to the life we have to live now in our present situation, informed by the past and looking to the future. 

It may address any human anywhere but need not necessarily exclude non-human life forms such as non-human animals and non-human intelligence (e.g. AI). 

​A most pressing and all absorbing situation for memento vivere (M.V.) is that of living with and in interaction with ‘memetica ecologica’ – an all encompassing ‘ecology’ of ‘information’ both quantitatively and qualitatively that defines the realm in which ‘we live and move, and have our being’, so to speak."

-Memento Vivere Notes, No. 1  [20200926]

"The 'play of signs' is already built in to the fabric of things, the fabric of reality.
 
There are 'signs' that do things. 
 
'Things' may be understood as moments in time, as calcification of actions."

-Fragments of Memetica, No. 36  [20210217]

Forthcoming (October 2026):  "On ‘Minimum Signification’:  The Semiosphere, John Deely, and the Chorus." 

In-person paper presentation to the Semiotic Society of America annual conference, Pittsburgh, 14-18 October 2026 [forthcoming].

Abstract -- In a context of rhetorical, conceptual, and existential limits, a heuristic approach to inquiry is necessary, both as individuals and as a collective.  Within such a heuristic, this presentation briefly explores the question of “minimum signification”.  This exploration of minimum signification is inspired and informed by the wider discussion of the semiosphere among thinkers in semiotics; the work of John Deely, particularly as articulated in Paul Cobley’s John Deely reader; and, also, those thinkers more widely that consider semiosis as including not only the living, bio-psycho-social world but also the non-living, physico-spatio-temporal world.  In particular, I am interested in Deely’s idea that “relations constitute reality” – or, otherwise, his “relational realism”, especially as this intersects with rhetorics of information, for example in the thinking of Eddington, Simondon, Bateson, and Floridi, among others.  Left for another time is the question of how we get from minimum signification to “maximum signification”.
 
Keywords:  rhetorics, signification, semiosphere, Deely, relation, information

Forthcoming:  Book Café: Move/ments and Trends in the Field.

Panel featuring new books in the field, including Information Rhetorics: Memetics and the Dream of Reverse Engineering Nature & Culture. 

​Meeting of the Association for the Rhetoric of Science, Technology, and Medicine at the annual convention of the National Communication Association.  New Orleans, Louisiana.   Forthcoming November 2026.

​Information Rhetorics, a new book by Benjamin Bennett-Carpenter, was recently published by Routledge (April 2026) and is now available through select libraries, amazon, and local bookshops by special order.  A preview is available through Google Books.

Description

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 specialized 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.

Table of Contents

1 Introduction to Memetica: A Contemporary Rhetoric of Information
2 Heuristic toward Everything
3 Memetics as Heuristic Rhetoric
4 Memetica as a Complex Signifying Ecology
5 Information Rhetorics: Holistic and Differentiated
6 Memetica Otherwise/Critiqued
7 Memetica Applied:  Economics, Spirituality, Social Theory
8 Conclusion and What’s Next

Reviews

"I like books that take on big topics and expertly synthesize understandings from diverse fields. Carpenter deals with the whole world and explores how we can best understand this as an 'ecology of information.'  He shows how such an approach guides us to ask new questions about our world."

-- Rick Szostak, University of Alberta, Canada

“A book that shows that the meme is an object of rhetoric and not an object of science.”

-- David Krakauer, President and William H. Miller Professor of Complex Systems, Santa Fe Institute, USA

"An all-encompassing attempt to conceptualize unity, diversity, and complexity in contemporary contexts. An important brick in the emerging building of memetics. This project is as ambitious as that of Vernadsky’s Noosphere."

-- Thorsten Botz-Bornstein, Professor of Philosophy, Gulf University of Science and Technology, Kuwait


Preview (at Google Books):

https://www.google.com/books/edition/Information_Rhetorics/p4TBEQAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0

Bio

Benjamin Bennett-Carpenter writes philosophy and poetry. He teaches at Oakland University, USA, and consults and coaches at Sollars and Associates, Michigan, USA. Bennett-Carpenter is the author of Death in Documentaries (2018) and Explaining Jesus (2019). His current project is on how humans live.