Victoria N. Alexander's Blog, page 11

Coming of Age Post-9/11

Happy birthday to all those who turn 18 this year.  The War on Terror may seem pretty darn everyday to you, but there was a time when all the paranoid policy changes — that come with waging constant warfare on shadowy enemies, who could be anywhere or anyone — would have seemed outrageous. Locus Amoenus, […]

Victoria Alexander receives Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award to Russia

I am very excited to have the opportunity to do research this spring at ITMO University in St Petersburg, Vladimir Nabokov’s home and Cyber Capital of Russia. ITMO — which stands for Information Technologies, Mechanics and Optics — has recently launched a Digital Humanities Lab where I will be working with graduate students on “The […]

June 1st, Book Club, Locus Amoenus Pleasant Valley Library

On Saturday, June 1st at 12PM, the Dutchess County Libertarian Party will host a book club meeting with Victoria Alexander about her novel Locus Amoenus.  Listen to the first chapter of the audiobook, read by Ben Jorgensen, below.  A complete digital audiobook is offered to everyone who can identify three Libertarian themes in the first […]

Futuretech Podcast

  “In biosemiotics, we say that the human ability to interpret signs—which is the ability to think really, to think creatively and adaptively and learn new things—didn’t just emerge with animals; rudimentary sign reading emerged in the simplest forms of life with single-celled organisms,” says Victoria Alexander, biosemiotician, Director of Dactyl Foundation, Fulbright specialist, and […]

Live reading of “Terrordise” at Socially Relevant Film Fest March 20, NYC

There will be a live 10 minute reading of an excerpt from “Terrordise,” comedy screenplay by VN Alexander, on March 20 at 1:15PM at Cinema Village, 22 E 12th Street, (between University Place and 5th avenue), New York, NY 10003. The reading is free of charge and open to the public. RSVP required. Synopsis of Terrordise. In […]

Propaganda & Art: How we process information when we aren’t thinking

We have been hearing a lot about “fake news” and “propaganda” lately, and it is as important as ever to use our critical thinking skills. But we also need to understand how propaganda works and why it is so difficult to counteract with logic. Propaganda takes advantage of the way our brains function when we […]

Free Range Humans: What Makes Good Government?

[This is a version of a talk I originally presented at the 2018 Biosemiotics conference in Berkeley last June, re-presented on Dec 9th to a Biosemiotic study group online organized by Pille Bunnell. The video is a little rough. The brilliant Qs that sparked some of my As were cut because I neglected to get […]

Biosemiotics and more intelligent political institutions

Representative Democracy, Capitalism, Communism or Socialism? No matter what philosophy you begin with, over time political systems tend to concentrate wealth and power.  Government and individual freedom should really be co-creative of one another. Why is it that we can’t seem to achieve this?  As a biosemiotician, I have learned that creative and intelligent behavior […]

Alexander selected to serve on Fulbright Specialist roster, 2018-2020

Victoria Alexander has been selected for a three-year term as a Fulbright Specialist, available to serve institutions in over 150 countries worldwide. Alexander is an expert in Vladimir Nabokov’s non-gradualist approach to the evolution of insect mimicry. “As the number of students interested in arts and humanities programs declines worldwide, my work has focused on […]

Alexander selected to serve on Fulbright Specialist roster, 2017-2020

Victoria Alexander has been selected for a three-year term as a Fulbright Specialist, available to serve institutions in over 150 countries worldwide. Alexander is an expert in Vladimir Nabokov’s non-Darwinian approach to the evolution of insect mimicry. “As the number of students interested in arts and humanities programs declines worldwide, my work has focused on […]