Alfred Korzybski

(July 3, 1879 – March 1, 1950)

Alfred Korzybski, a Polish-born American semanticist, invented “general semantics.” His theories heavily influenced Robert A. Heinlein, A. E. van Vogt and other sf writers and fans, who brought such concepts as timebinding and Null-Ā into fandom.

General Semantics, a philosophical theory of meaning developed by Korzybski and popularized in the ’40s by van Vogt (before he got into Dianetics), initially made a great impact on fandom, but as it was terribly oversold, it disappeared just as quickly, joining technocracy and Esperanto as a faddish enthusiasm of fandom’s youth.

Encyclopedia Britannica entry.

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Person

1879—1950

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