Renormalized Semiotics
16 Mar 1995 06:50The post-structuralists talk about endless chains of signifiers floating loose without connecting to signifieds. As a physicist, I say just renormalize the bastards, absorbing all those extra infinite terms into the ``dressed'' or ``physical'' or ``observed'' signifier, which then works just fine. (Cf. James on the ``fringe.'')
``Oh my God, it's full of signifiers!''
(After a conversation with Jon Fetter, 21 February)
- Recommended:
- Mattuck, A Guide to Feynman Diagrams in the Many-Body Problem [Since this undertakes --- successfully --- to explain Feynman Diagrams and renormalization at what the author calls a ``pre-kindergarten level,'' it should be quite accessible to the semioticians, especially those who speak so learnedly of ``differential topology.'']
