In "Manhood Of Humanity" a vision of our future begins, fired in the trenches of World War I. Here in print Korzybski begins the task of solving the problems of the world, each page radiating optimistic humanity.
The problem comes down to whether human 'nature' can change, involving an accepted definition that 'man is an animal'. Indeed our political-social institutions, etc., operate with an animalistic, ruthless tooth-and-claw "survival of the fittest" as the 'strongest'. Despite that Charles Darwin(1859) in his "survival of the fittest" meant a survival of the best adapted, not 'strongest'. Therefore Korzybski decided that a functional re-definition became necessary, in order to better differentiate the evolutionary development. Where plants have an equivalence to Chemical-binders: capacity to convert energy(for example, photosynthesis) into growth, etc. Next that animals have an equivalence to Space-binders: capacity to move to find food. While humans have an equivalence to Time-binders: capacity to improve on the accumulated abstractions of others then transmitting it for future generations. From which has developed Philosophy, Sciences, Engineering, our libraries, etc.
This lead as a result to new explanations involving predictions upon old problems, ultimately having surprising consequences. For example, why do revolutions along with wars happen? Well because Science, Engineering, etc., as a time-binding process progresses geometrically, whilst our moral, social 'opinions'('prejudices'), etc., progresses arithmetically, non-empirically. For example, on many occasions people in discussion groups have protested against technological progress, yet it is not the technology that becomes the problem but their uses due to mis-evaluations. Further that our values for power(charisma as in leadership or-both exchange as in wealth), status(esteem), life-style, etc., remains based on a duplicity which involves the subjugation of the living by prostituting the time-binding knowledge created by the dead.
Instead Korzybski advocates co-operation in place of 'competition'; whilst self-improvement in place of 'greed', 'territorialism', 'capitalism', etc.
Thus Korzybski argues that humans are not by 'nature''fixed innate', but changeable through nurture; however to discover how this becomes possible, further why we 'copy animals in our nervous reactions'(the consequences)- required further research, culminating in "Science And Sanity".

This work has influenced just about everyone who was anybody during the previous century.The first published work by Korzybski, emanates with enthusiasm towards humanity, hobeit somber some of the observations contained in it. It is rather simple; yet makes the reader think anew about long forgotten questions he/she might have had at one time or other. And there are some good answers in it; some of them can be seen as timeless.

In 1921, Alfred Korzybski, a mathematician and scientist, classified Life with precise and accurate operational definitions of plants, animals, and humans. He defined the plants as energy-binders, the animals as space-binders, and we humans as time-binders. Korzybski explained that:

The plants adapt to their environment through their awareness and control of energy. The animals adapt to their environment through their awareness and control of space. And we humans adapt to our environment through our awareness and control of time.

Plants are energy-binders. The power of energy-binding is transformation, growth, and organization.

Energy-binders have the ability to transform solar energy to organic chemical energy. The plant is a solar collector. It spreads its leaves and harvests the ultraviolet rays directly from the sun.

Energy-binders have the power of growth.The plant draws water and minerals from the soil organizes this energy and nutrients into growth through cell division. The growth of the energy-binder and its self-propagation through progeny are the resultant of cell division - if the cells remain together we have growth; if they split off into a separate entity we have progeny. Energy-bindings have the power of organization. Organization possible through the ability to time the release and binding of energy. Timing based on knowledge - energy knowledge.

Animals are space-binders. The power of space-binding is mobility - the ability to move about in space. This is not the simple motion of plants. This is mobility - running, jumping, leaping, swinging, swimming, creeping, stalking, crawling, diving, and flying.

The space-binder moves towards a specific and attainable goal - water, food, a mate, shelter - and in any direction. The mobility of the space-binder is not just motion, it is controlled motion. The space-binder moves in search of food. For grazing animals the quest is continuous; for predators, occasional but more strenuous. And all animals are under constant threat from natural enemies. The animal, therefore, requires sense awareness - awareness of the space in which he lives. It is imbedded in just about every thing associated with humans and yet most humans are unaware of the very power that makes them human. We humans catalogue and store our various knowings in libraries, universities, colleges, data banks, and information services. We are time-binders and the mark of human power is everywhere.

On its publication, Science And Sanity received the high praise of many prestigious scientists, such as W. Horsley Gantt (who had worked with Pavlov), and the criticism of a few self-appointed defenders of science, such as Martin Gardner (who was a philosophy major, not a scientist).

Basically, the book develops a system different from, but similar too, scientific method -- a practical system for applying scientific values and attitudes in any situation, not just in a laboratory. It is a system that, like science, emphasizes checking the facts. For example, take Korzybski's theory of time-binding. One reviewer here described time-binding as "storing information." But if you check the facts (actually read the book), you will find that Korzybski defined time-binding as the ability to pass information from one generation to the next. Because of this ability, human beings progress (at least in some ways), but animals do not. For instance, beavers build dams that are just like the beaver dams built a million years ago, but the stucco houses of human beings today are quite different from the mud huts of 20,000 B.C. Our ability to bind time has made this possible, and animals can't do it (in anything more than a negligible way).

Like some of the other reviewers, I first read S. I. Hayakawa's classic "Language in Action" (later updated to "Language in Thought and Action") before wondering who Alfred Korzybski was and why Hayakawa spoke so highly of him. Eventually I bought "Science and Sanity" from the Institute for General Semantics and read straight through the book in two days.

I am over 50 years old, so I learned to read and write well during my high school years, largely because I didn't watch much television. I had no trouble reading korzybski's book quickly, in spite of its rather large size. The TV generation, though, may just not have the attention span for a book such as this. Too bad for them!

Korzybski warns the reader early in the book that it contains serious material, and so it does. I found his treatment of "infinity" and "variables" alone worth the effort of reading the book. His material on Ivan Pavlov gave me new information on the contributions of that neglected genius. His treatment of Bertrand Russell's "propositional function" and "theory of types" inspired me to actually read Russell on these subjects. His principles of general semantics have provided me with a useful framework for analyzing early Buddhist psychology, the theme of my Master's Degree thesis.

Korzybski, like Hayakawa and Wendell Johnson, advocates elimination of the "is" of identity and the "is" of predication from our language. Unfortunately, they went on using the verb "to be" in their own writing and this somewhat detracted from the weight their message might otherwise have carried. Still, Korzybski's student, D. David Bourland, Jr., went on to pioneer the use of E-Prime (English without the "is") and I can testify to the worth of following his example. Aristotle's superstitious ghost can now rest in peace.

Korzybski could have written better than he did, but then, the value of the book lies in the ideas he proposed and the intelligent men he inspired. That he failed to spoon-feed those suffering from Attention Deficit Disorder, a modern euphemism for too much television, says more about weak readers than it does about his poor (if indeed we can call it that) writing.

Read the book once, then read it again, and then start putting general semantics to work in your own reading, writing, and--most importantly--thinking. If you don't do anything else in your life, get rid of the verb "to be" and you will have gotten more from Korzybski than you will ever get from another author. The rest of the book will then just amount to layers of frosting on the cake. Warning, though! Once you do, you will hardly ever again read a book or listen to another person speak without recoiling from the dogmatism they espouse with every use of that malignant little Aristotelian invitation to identification, rationalization, and objectification.

So, I read the selections from Science and Sanity, and I realize, damn this book is amazing. One would be wise to ask, What is the importance of generalities, or in other words, how important is a general understanding of the position mankind is in at this-very-moment(1933). Of the information and knowledge, the engineering, history, and science, which influences every moment of our day, from when we wake till when we sleep. Korzybski accumulated a large amount of information for the developement of a system, which not only gives a general outline of the evolution of science and math, up to 1933, but still holds weight to this very day.
General semantics, does not refer to the semantics of words, but of our thoughts, and the nature of the logic which we adhere to today, mostly of Aristotlian propositions. He outlines and differentiates from his system the older, outdated Aristotlian system. This of course, he acknowledges as being a loose generalization of his system. His system takes the revolutionary ideas of great mathemeticians, scientists, philosophers, psychiatrists, and anthropologists, to name a few, and accumulates the knowledge to form a concept he refered to as 'time-binding' or the function of passing information learned in ones lifetime to one's kin, more efficiently. My understanding of the system at this point is still amateur at best, but the potential is damn near infinite. Criticism of the system comes mainly from those who haven't taken the time to apply the principles, and not just ponder them. The genius behind the system is in the application. He utilizes techniques I don't even think were fully understood at the time of writing the book. The use of visualization and non-identification alone in application creates an inner revolution of unspeakable precident, increasing memorization ability, organization of thought, temper reactions to words and memories, and numerous other benefits that can only be experienced.