“The transference of culture in time can, in large measure, be described as the conservation of sign systems serving as a control on behavior’
Doris Bradbury
Within the Social sciences there is a field of study refered to as semiotics, or semiology, semiotics is the study of signs and symbols, both individually and grouped into sign systems. It includes the study of how meaning is constructed and understood. Semiotics is an investigation into how meaning is created and how meaning is communicated. Its origins lie in the academic study of how signs and symbols (visual and linguistic) create meaning. It is a way of seeing the world, and of understanding how the landscape and culture in which we live has a massive impact on all of us unconsciously. Within the hyper capitalist culture that we are currently living in, Semiotics is an important tool is deciphering and understanding the codes and messages that are fed to us on a daily basis through all of the different forms of media available to us. Semiotics is able to uncover the cohesive means by which we have build our unsustainable culture of built in obsolescence by deconstructing marketing and advertising strategies that are designed to keep people spending, and ultimately keep on consuming.
Semiotics in action
Our actions and thoughts – what we do automatically – are often governed by a complex set of cultural messages and conventions, and dependent upon our ability to interpret them instinctively and instantly.when we see the different colours of a traffic light, we automatically know how to react to them. We know this without even thinking about it. But this is a sign which 
has been established by cultural convention over a long period of time and which we learn as children, and requires a deal of unconscious cultural knowledge to understand its meaning. Viewing and interpreting (or decoding) this sign enables us to navigate the landscape of our streets and society.
Semiotics a tool of the future?
Semiotics has a place in the future of cultural and social life, on a basic and very human level it provides a means of interpreting signs and symbols, and since human beings have relied on signs and symbols as part of their expression, and understanding of our world for thousands of years then it rightfully has a place in the toolbox of the future.
Steve