Picture a tray. On the tray is an assortment of shapes: Some cubes, others spheres. The shapes are made from a variety of different materials and represent an assortment of sizes. In total there are, ...

From paintings and photographs to coins and credit cards, we are constantly surrounded by symbolic artifacts. The mental representation of symbols -- objects that arbitrarily represent other objects - ...

As AI systems have advanced rapidly, with large language models (LLMs) at the center, every tech executive has experienced their limits—when AI systems struggle with complex problem-solving, produce ...

An alternative to the neural network architectures at the heart of AI models like OpenAI’s o1 is having a moment. Called symbolic AI, it uses rules pertaining to particular tasks, like rewriting lines ...

In our recent book Constructing Organizational Life, we propose a new way of understanding and analyzing the social world that we believe is particularly relevant to understanding social innovation.

A $4.64 billion punishment for a Mexican cartel's massacre of American women and children was considered symbolic. The families of the victims, who ranged from an 8-month-old baby to a 43-year-old mom ...

The symbolic approach to corporate culture is used to build the company brand while organizing and defining the workplace. Physical symbols range from name tags to awards that build company identity.

Symbolic triggers shape human behavior in profound ways, influencing everything from global mourning to acts of violence. The death of Princess Diana triggered worldwide grief, as she embodied the ...