Life is
sign and semiosis is the process through which signs are constructed. In the
primeval mud separation had to occur, some distance between different units had
to be establish, a membrane was created to differentiate an inside from an
outside. And thus communication could begin between ins and outs, sign could be
exchanged: life could begin. In order to have meaning a molecule crossing a
membrane has to be part of two processes: one inside as a sequence of the
organism metabolism, the other one outside as a sequence of the cosmic
phenomena. The message sent by an emitter to make sense has to be understood by
a receiver. To be a sign, that is, to carry meaning an object has to be a
significant for both a signified in the emitter and a signified in the
receiver. Communication improves when both signifieds become more tightly
linked, the difference of meaning the object carries for the partners in sign
exchange is reduce through the process of learning. A succession of messages
sent by the emitter followed by a response from the receiver, becoming then an
emitter, to acknowledge what was for him the signified associated with the
significant received and thus, by successive approximations a sense emerges
from the chaos of undecipherable objects.
A light in
the dark makes sense for a system equipped with photo resistors AND if this
system has an internal protocol relating the sensor signal triggered by the
light to a behavioral pattern. The object “light” to become a sign has to be a
significant for a signified of the system receiving it. If the meaning is
without ambiguity and redundancy the sign is then a signal. The behavior it
imposes to the receiver is unequivocal, its meaning is unique.
Two hexagonal
mobiles interact with one another. Perhaps are they mates? Or a prey-predator
couple? The light emitted by the first one (“Red”) is a signal for the other
one (“Black”), it is an appeal, a request for coming closer. Black should
respond to this signal by an attitude, a movement, a gesture, in fact another
sign which should be understood by Red as an acknowledgement of his appeal. When Red (or Black) receives a signal from Black
(or Red) he interprets it through its referents as a call, that is, the signal
received is processed through the Black’s (or Red’s) world representation network
(Weltanschauung) and more specifically the representation of his relation with
others. This process of integration of signs implies a change in the inner
structure which is conveyed by a move, an attitude or just a thought.
All this
exchange of meanings is expressed at an inner level, the level of the souls,
where puppets, objects, figures, react to the events taking place on the upper
plane. Two screens displayed Red’s and Black’s fancies, the senses of the signs
received are first elucidated in plain language on the video monitors and then
they are metaphorically translated into a film uttering their feelings.
