Why do we need signs in biological systems? |
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Authors: | Yair Neuman |
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Affiliation: | Ben Gurion University, Israel. yneuman@bgumail.bgu.ac.il |
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Abstract: | This paper addresses a fundamental question: Why are there sign-mediated interactions in biology? According to Polanyi, biological hierarchies are constituted through boundary conditions. I argue that signs, or more accurately the processes of signification, function as these boundary conditions. Moreover, based on general insights from the physics of computation, I argue that the organism cannot be computed directly from the DNA without the loss of critical information. In this context, signs as boundary conditions mediate the biological construction in a way that prevents the loss of information and destabilization of the DNA. |
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