Pub Date : 2024-03-12DOI: 10.1007/s12304-024-09554-1
Mattia Berera
Based on Kolchinsky and Wolpert’s work on the semantics of autonomous agents, I propose an application of Mathematical Logic and Probability to model cognitive processes. In this work, I will follow Bateson’s insights on the hierarchy of learning in complex organisms and formalize his idea of applying Russell’s Type Theory. Following Weaver’s three levels for the communication problem, I link the Kolchinsky–Wolpert model to Bateson’s insights, and I reach a semantic and conceptual hierarchy in living systems as an explicative model of some adaptive constraints. Due to the generality of Kolchinsky and Wolpert’s hypotheses, I highlight some fundamental gaps between the results in current Artificial Intelligence and the semantic structures in human beings. In light of the consequences of my model, I conclude the paper by proposing a general definition of knowledge in probabilistic terms, overturning de Finetti’s Subjectivist Definition of Probability.
{"title":"Efficiency in Organism-Environment Information Exchanges: A Semantic Hierarchy of Logical Types Based on the Trial-and-Error Strategy Behind the Emergence of Knowledge","authors":"Mattia Berera","doi":"10.1007/s12304-024-09554-1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s12304-024-09554-1","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Based on Kolchinsky and Wolpert’s work on the semantics of autonomous agents, I propose an application of Mathematical Logic and Probability to model cognitive processes. In this work, I will follow Bateson’s insights on the hierarchy of learning in complex organisms and formalize his idea of applying Russell’s Type Theory. Following Weaver’s three levels for the communication problem, I link the Kolchinsky–Wolpert model to Bateson’s insights, and I reach a semantic and conceptual hierarchy in living systems as an explicative model of some adaptive constraints. Due to the generality of Kolchinsky and Wolpert’s hypotheses, I highlight some fundamental gaps between the results in current Artificial Intelligence and the semantic structures in human beings. In light of the consequences of my model, I conclude the paper by proposing a general definition of knowledge in probabilistic terms, overturning de Finetti’s Subjectivist Definition of Probability.</p>","PeriodicalId":49230,"journal":{"name":"Biosemiotics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2024-03-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140124515","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-02-22DOI: 10.1007/s12304-024-09555-0
Pauline Suzanne Delahaye
The present paper will summarise the methodology, the scientific outcomes, and the potential for generalisation of the model of a project that studied cohabitation between human inhabitants and liminal species (in the present case, corvids) in Tartu, Estonia, from October 2021 to July 2023, with a comparative field study in Paris, France. It will present the context and goals of using a semiotic model to map interspecific cohabitation, expose what kind of data can be used to feed the model in a relevant way and how it was done in the case of this project. This paper will present how the model diagnosed issues in cohabitation, both from material nuisances and cultural aspects, insisting on the concept of “hostile minority” that emerged from the study. It will discuss the importance of problem-solving in interspecific cohabitation, what the model suggested regarding this aspect, how this tool can be generalised to a large variety of cases and why it should be used this way.
{"title":"Interspecific Cohabitation in Urban Context: Modelling, Diagnostic and Problem-Solving from a Semiotics Perspective","authors":"Pauline Suzanne Delahaye","doi":"10.1007/s12304-024-09555-0","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s12304-024-09555-0","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The present paper will summarise the methodology, the scientific outcomes, and the potential for generalisation of the model of a project that studied cohabitation between human inhabitants and liminal species (in the present case, corvids) in Tartu, Estonia, from October 2021 to July 2023, with a comparative field study in Paris, France. It will present the context and goals of using a semiotic model to map interspecific cohabitation, expose what kind of data can be used to feed the model in a relevant way and how it was done in the case of this project. This paper will present how the model diagnosed issues in cohabitation, both from material nuisances and cultural aspects, insisting on the concept of “hostile minority” that emerged from the study. It will discuss the importance of problem-solving in interspecific cohabitation, what the model suggested regarding this aspect, how this tool can be generalised to a large variety of cases and why it should be used this way.</p>","PeriodicalId":49230,"journal":{"name":"Biosemiotics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2024-02-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139952159","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-02-10DOI: 10.1007/s12304-024-09552-3
David Chun Yin Li
This article reviews the edited volume “Evolvability: A Unifying Concept in Evolutionary Biology?” through biological and philosophical lenses. The book provides diverse angles on evolvability, which is affected by various hierarchical levels, timescales, and types of variation, thus moving beyond a purely genomics perspective. Evolvability is important to biosemiotics because understanding the dynamics of topological genotype spaces could help one better comprehend the phenotypic spaces of meaning, as developmental codes and interrelations can influence the emergence of biological novelty over time. This book is successful in provoking thought on evolvability's role as both a product and a driver of evolutionary innovations and explores the philosophical implications of how evolution has the capacity to generate novel forms of meaning.
{"title":"Navigating the Evolvability Landscape — Essay Review of Hansen T.F., Houle, D., Pavlicev, M., & Pelabon, C. (Eds.). (2023). Evolvability: A Unifying Concept in Evolutionary Biology? MIT Press","authors":"David Chun Yin Li","doi":"10.1007/s12304-024-09552-3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s12304-024-09552-3","url":null,"abstract":"<p>This article reviews the edited volume “Evolvability: A Unifying Concept in Evolutionary Biology?” through biological and philosophical lenses. The book provides diverse angles on evolvability, which is affected by various hierarchical levels, timescales, and types of variation, thus moving beyond a purely genomics perspective. Evolvability is important to biosemiotics because understanding the dynamics of topological genotype spaces could help one better comprehend the phenotypic spaces of meaning, as developmental codes and interrelations can influence the emergence of biological novelty over time. This book is successful in provoking thought on evolvability's role as both a product and a driver of evolutionary innovations and explores the philosophical implications of how evolution has the capacity to generate novel forms of meaning.</p>","PeriodicalId":49230,"journal":{"name":"Biosemiotics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2024-02-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139764011","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-02-07DOI: 10.1007/s12304-024-09553-2
S. Torres-Martínez
{"title":"Embodied human language models vs. Large Language Models, or why Artificial Intelligence cannot explain the modal be able to","authors":"S. Torres-Martínez","doi":"10.1007/s12304-024-09553-2","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s12304-024-09553-2","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":49230,"journal":{"name":"Biosemiotics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2024-02-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139854583","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-02-07DOI: 10.1007/s12304-024-09553-2
S. Torres-Martínez
{"title":"Embodied human language models vs. Large Language Models, or why Artificial Intelligence cannot explain the modal be able to","authors":"S. Torres-Martínez","doi":"10.1007/s12304-024-09553-2","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s12304-024-09553-2","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":49230,"journal":{"name":"Biosemiotics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2024-02-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139794673","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-01-11DOI: 10.1007/s12304-023-09551-w
Carolina Sánchez De Jaegher
{"title":"Atacama Desert’s Solastalgia: Color and Water for Dumping","authors":"Carolina Sánchez De Jaegher","doi":"10.1007/s12304-023-09551-w","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s12304-023-09551-w","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":49230,"journal":{"name":"Biosemiotics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2024-01-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139438311","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-12-29DOI: 10.1007/s12304-023-09549-4
Eva Jablonka, Simona Ginsburg
In our target article, “Learning and the evolution of conscious agents” we outlined an evolutionary approach to consciousness, arguing that the evolution of a form of open-ended, representational, and generative learning (unlimited associative learning, UAL) drove the evolution of consciousness. Our view highlights the dynamics and functions of consciousness, delineates its taxonomic distribution and suggests a framework for exploring its developmental and evolutionary modifications. The approach we offer resonates with biosemioticians’ views, but as the responses to our target article show, our proposal also faces challenges and has led to suggestions that extend, develop and qualify it. Our response to the 14 varied and rich commentaries starts with the recurring and deep question raised by many of them – the relation between life and sentience. We explore this question by introducing and expanding on “vivaciousness”, a term we coined to describe the turbulent, flexible exploration-stabilization processes inherent in the living condition, as well as addressing the related concepts of Umwelt and selfhood. We then consider the question of the adequacy of unlimited associative learning (UAL) as an evolutionary transition marker (ETM) of minimal consciousness (rather than as a marker of a complex form of sentience), and the possible precursors of sentience. The engagement with these broad themes is entangled with a discussion of evolutionary transitions, constitutive emergence and the function/s of consciousness. The suggestions of our commentators, urging us to explore new concepts and new avenues of research within the framework of a richer view of evolution are then discussed. We end by briefly considering what we regard as a conceptual lacuna, which is leading to the indiscriminate use of the term “sentience” and which awaits further investigation.
{"title":"Living and Experiencing: Response to Commentaries","authors":"Eva Jablonka, Simona Ginsburg","doi":"10.1007/s12304-023-09549-4","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s12304-023-09549-4","url":null,"abstract":"<p>In our target article, “Learning and the evolution of conscious agents” we outlined an evolutionary approach to consciousness, arguing that the evolution of a form of open-ended, representational, and generative learning (unlimited associative learning, UAL) drove the evolution of consciousness. Our view highlights the dynamics and functions of consciousness, delineates its taxonomic distribution and suggests a framework for exploring its developmental and evolutionary modifications. The approach we offer resonates with biosemioticians’ views, but as the responses to our target article show, our proposal also faces challenges and has led to suggestions that extend, develop and qualify it. Our response to the 14 varied and rich commentaries starts with the recurring and deep question raised by many of them – the relation between life and sentience. We explore this question by introducing and expanding on “vivaciousness”, a term we coined to describe the turbulent, flexible exploration-stabilization processes inherent in the living condition, as well as addressing the related concepts of Umwelt and selfhood. We then consider the question of the adequacy of unlimited associative learning (UAL) as an evolutionary transition marker (ETM) of <i>minimal</i> consciousness (rather than as a marker of a complex form of sentience), and the possible precursors of sentience. The engagement with these broad themes is entangled with a discussion of evolutionary transitions, constitutive emergence and the function/s of consciousness. The suggestions of our commentators, urging us to explore new concepts and new avenues of research within the framework of a richer view of evolution are then discussed. We end by briefly considering what we regard as a conceptual lacuna, which is leading to the indiscriminate use of the term “sentience” and which awaits further investigation.</p>","PeriodicalId":49230,"journal":{"name":"Biosemiotics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2023-12-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139064616","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-12-14DOI: 10.1007/s12304-023-09550-x
Francesco Pugliaro
{"title":"Modes of Bonding and Morphogenesis. Deleuze, Ruyer, and the Rearticulation of Life and Nonlife","authors":"Francesco Pugliaro","doi":"10.1007/s12304-023-09550-x","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s12304-023-09550-x","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":49230,"journal":{"name":"Biosemiotics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2023-12-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139002647","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-12-13DOI: 10.1007/s12304-023-09547-6
Supriya Bajpai, Lalit Saraswat
Simona Ginsburg & Eva Jablonka (G&J), in The Evolution of the Sensitive Soul (2019), explore the nature and status of the mind and subjective experiences from an evolutionary perspective. They raise a fundamental question about ‘the origin of animal consciousness during evolution’ (pg.1). The book begins by tracing the roots of consciousness studies from the Aristotelian perspective on the sensitive soul, referring to the dynamics of the living organization, percepts, and feelings. They use “subjective experiencing” to refer to both sentience and consciousness. They argue that to have an evolutionary account of subjective experiences, we need to develop an understanding of minimal consciousness or a marker like unlimited associative learning (UAL) indicating subjective experiences. In the book, the origin of life is marked by the evolution of goal-directed systems where the system can manifest unlimited heredity. They state that all the questions about the origin of minimal consciousness deal with ‘the emergence of new types of goal-directed systems’ (p.1).
{"title":"Consciousness as Telos: An Evo-Devo Approach","authors":"Supriya Bajpai, Lalit Saraswat","doi":"10.1007/s12304-023-09547-6","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s12304-023-09547-6","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Simona Ginsburg & Eva Jablonka (G&J), in <i>The Evolution of the Sensitive Soul (2019)</i>, explore the nature and status of the mind and subjective experiences from an evolutionary perspective. They raise a fundamental question about ‘the origin of animal consciousness during evolution’ (pg.1). The book begins by tracing the roots of consciousness studies from the Aristotelian perspective on the sensitive soul, referring to the dynamics of the living organization, percepts, and feelings. They use “subjective experiencing” to refer to both sentience and consciousness. They argue that to have an evolutionary account of subjective experiences, we need to develop an understanding of minimal consciousness or a marker like unlimited associative learning (UAL) indicating subjective experiences. In the book, the origin of life is marked by the evolution of goal-directed systems where the system can manifest unlimited heredity. They state that all the questions about the origin of minimal consciousness deal with ‘the emergence of new types of goal-directed systems’ (p.1).</p>","PeriodicalId":49230,"journal":{"name":"Biosemiotics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2023-12-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138630282","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-12-04DOI: 10.1007/s12304-023-09548-5
Liqian Zhou
How semiotic freedom emerges in the evolution and development of organisms through semiotic scaffolding is a core problem for biosemiotics. There is a paradox in explaining this semiotic emergence: reduction in (semiotic) freedom leads to the creation of new semiotic freedom. Semiotic emergence is a species of dynamic emergence. Accordingly, the paradox of semiotic emergence is a species of the paradox of dynamic emergence. The latter paradox claims that reducing lower-level freedom generates new freedom at a higher level. The solution to the paradox lies in clarifying the ambiguity in the term freedom. The conceptual inconsistency in the paradox comes from confusing two types of freedom. One type of freedom means the possibility a system could have, while the other refers to the capacity of a system to access a specific (range of) state(s). There is an inverse relation between the two types of freedom. With the clarification, the conceptual inconsistency is explained away. This understanding of semiotic emergence may help us further understand core ideas in biosemiotics and provide a conceptual foundation for empirical studies of biosemiotics.
{"title":"More Constraints, More Freedom: Revisit Semiotic Scaffolding, Semiotic Freedom, and Semiotic Emergence","authors":"Liqian Zhou","doi":"10.1007/s12304-023-09548-5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s12304-023-09548-5","url":null,"abstract":"<p>How semiotic freedom emerges in the evolution and development of organisms through semiotic scaffolding is a core problem for biosemiotics. There is a paradox in explaining this semiotic emergence: reduction in (semiotic) freedom leads to the creation of new semiotic freedom. Semiotic emergence is a species of dynamic emergence. Accordingly, the paradox of semiotic emergence is a species of the paradox of dynamic emergence. The latter paradox claims that reducing lower-level freedom generates new freedom at a higher level. The solution to the paradox lies in clarifying the ambiguity in the term freedom. The conceptual inconsistency in the paradox comes from confusing two types of freedom. One type of freedom means the possibility a system could have, while the other refers to the capacity of a system to access a specific (range of) state(s). There is an inverse relation between the two types of freedom. With the clarification, the conceptual inconsistency is explained away. This understanding of semiotic emergence may help us further understand core ideas in biosemiotics and provide a conceptual foundation for empirical studies of biosemiotics.</p>","PeriodicalId":49230,"journal":{"name":"Biosemiotics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2023-12-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138512900","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}