# Every Sign Points Beyond Itself by Bryant McGill > “Semiotics is the study of signs and how meaning is made. Words, images, gestures, and even silences work as signs that point beyond themselves. Studying how signs work reveals the hidden machinery of meaning in everyday life.” > **— Bryant McGill**, *Reclaiming Selfishness, Balance, and the Whole Self, Part 1 - Livestream (Jun 2016)* ## Sources and Context - **Authoritative developed source:** [[livestreams/Reclaiming Selfishness, Balance, and the Whole Self, Part 1 - Livestream|Reclaiming Selfishness, Balance, and the Whole Self, Part 1 - Livestream]] — the Reminder reproduces the complete marked quotation object without alteration. For this workflow, the developed livestream document is the source authority. - **Broadcast passage:** In the June 1, 2016 broadcast, roughly 00:21:30 to 00:27:00, the speaker moves from polarity as the source of energy (positive and negative, on and off, zeros and ones, good and bad; see [[wiki/Binary Opposition|binary opposition]]) to [[wiki/Semiotic Twins|semiotic twins]] in [[wiki/Linguistics|linguistics]], [[wiki/Epistemology|epistemology]], [[wiki/Ontology|ontology]], the meaning of meaning ([[wiki/Semantics|semantics]]), symbolic memory ([[wiki/Symbolic Representation|symbolic representation]]), [[wiki/Parse Tree|parse trees]], and control over [[wiki/Lexicon|lexicons]]. - **Conceptual context:** The point defines semiotics for a general reader: signs include words, images, gestures, and silences, and the field studies how they come to stand for something else. ## Related Articles and Collections - **Collection:** [[collections/Simple Reminders|Simple Reminders]] - **Collection:** [[collections/Livestreams Collection|Livestreams Collection]] - **Article:** [[blog/20261016 - The Irksome Zero Matter in Semiotics|The Irksome Zero Matter in Semiotics]] - **Article:** [[articles/Relational Intelligence and Ontological Coherence at Scale|Relational Intelligence and Ontological Coherence at Scale]] - **Livestream:** [[livestreams/Reclaiming Selfishness, Balance, and the Whole Self, Part 1 - Livestream|Reclaiming Selfishness, Balance, and the Whole Self, Part 1 - Livestream]] ## Related Topics - [[wiki/Semiotics|Semiotics]] ## Share on Social Media ``` “Semiotics is the study of signs and how meaning is made. Words, images, gestures, and even silences work as signs that point beyond themselves. Studying how signs work reveals the hidden machinery of meaning in everyday life.” — Bryant McGill, Reclaiming Selfishness, Balance, and the Whole Self, Part 1 - Livestream (Jun 2016) https://bryantmcgill.com/simple-reminders-bryant-mcgill-every-sign-points-beyond ```