Infoautopoiesis and consciousness

Abstract

There is a need to demystify the concept of information to understand consciousness from a fundamental perspective. This is possible to do using the explanatory potential of infoautopoiesis or the process of self-production of information. Infoautopoiesis allows a human organism-in-its-environment to uncover the bountifulness of matter and/or energy as expressions of their environmental spatial/temporal motion/change, i.e., as information or Batesonian differences which make a difference. Leading to the realization that self-produced information is not a fundamental quantity of the Universe. Rather, it is internally generated and subsequently externalized information relevant to individuated satisfaction of physiological and/or relational needs of the human organism-in-its-environment. Sensorial percepts play an important role in making the external environment meaningful. Individuated, internal, inaccessible, semantic information is the essence of consciousness, and may be externalized or syntactically shared with others using gestures, pictographs, language, music, figurines, writing. We create and live in an environment surrounded by our syntactic, artificial creations, since self-produced information is the primary element that allows humans their unique existence.