III. Proto-Semantics: Simple Agents, Detection, and Functional Significance
With the emergence of autopoietic organization and its primitive inside-out lens (Stage II.5), we now have genuine agents capable of functional meaning assignment. The following stage explores how this basic architecture develops into more sophisticated forms of semantic processing while maintaining its grounding in self-preserving organization.
sequenceDiagram participant Env as Environment participant Rec as Receptor participant Int as InternalState participant Ag as Agent Env-->>Rec: pattern detected Rec-->>Int: encode functional valence Int-->>Ag: trigger response Ag-->>Env: behavior (e.g., move or avoid)
The emergence of simple life forms marks a crucial step. These agents as self-preserving "pockets of the universe" (Section 3), begin to interact with environmental cues in a way that fosters their persistence. This interaction is the dawn of proto-semantics:
- Detection and Response: Simple agents possess physical structures (receptors—themselves complex arrangements of worldsheets) capable of detecting specific environmental patterns. This detection triggers internal state changes within the agent, leading to specific behaviors (e.g., movement towards a nutrient, avoidance of a toxin).
- Functional Meaning via the "Inside-Out Lens": The detected environmental pattern (a specific pattern of worldsheets) acquires a rudimentary functional meaning or valence for the agent. This meaning is not consciously apprehended but is defined by the pattern's relevance to the agent's self-preservation, as structured by its primitive "inside-out lens". For example, a sugar molecule (representing a specific, stable pattern of worldsheets) effectively means "resource-for-persistence" to a bacterium because of the bacterium's evolved capacity to metabolize it.
- DNA/RNA as Embodied Proto-Semantic Information: A prime illustration is found in the role of DNA/RNA. These molecular structures are highly stable informational patterns (complex configurations of patterns of worldsheets) that store organizational information. When "read" or expressed by the cellular machinery, this genetic information directs the assembly of the organism's components and imposes specific, often "built-in," behavioral patterns (e.g., constructing a flagellum, synthesizing an enzyme for digestion). Thus, a gene sequence (itself a pattern of worldsheets) acquires functional meaning by reliably leading to structures and behaviors that contribute to the organism's persistence within its environment.
Practical Example: A motile bacterium detecting a nutrient gradient (e.g., sugar molecules) uses receptor proteins (physical patterns of worldsheets) to guide movement toward higher concentrations—a clear case of proto-semantics in action.
Stage III takeaway: Simple detection mechanisms grant basic functional meaning to environmental cues.
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