The Antithesis of Entropy: Biosemiotic Communication from Genetics to Human Language with Special Emphasis on the Immune Systems

Abstract

Entropy can be defined as the antithesis of well-formed true reports that agree with each other and with the material facts accessible through the experience of one or more competent observers. The abstract convergence (strictly formal, logical agreement) of true narrative representations (TNRs)-ordinary valid reports of facts of experience-makes them formally more complete than fictions, errors, lies, and nonsense. A limit of absolute entropy is theoretically reached if all resemblance to a TNR is lost. As argued here, TNRs-formally defined along the lines of Peirce's exact logic-provide the necessary foundation for functional human languages and for biosemiotic systems. The theoretical concepts of pragmatic mapping-the fitting of a TNR to whatever facts it represents-and the constructive cycle of abstraction that enables a child to discover the systems underlying such mappings are introduced and illustrated from child development and then shown to apply to the human neuroarchitecture, genetics, fetal development, and our immune systems. It is also argued that biological disorders and disease conditions logically must involve corrupted (damaged, undeveloped, or otherwise incomplete) representations at one or many levels.Keywords: abstractive cycle; biosemiotics; brain architecture; embryological development; immune systems; information theory; language acquisition; learning to read; human neuroarchitecture; pragmatic mapping; self-consciousness; sign hierarchy; systems grammar; theory of abstraction; true narrative representations OPEN ACCESSEntropy 2010, 12 632 Building a General Theory of SignsSince this treatise is not a stand-alone book but is rather a longer-than-expected contribution to this special issue of Entropy, as pointed out by several anonymous expert readers and the distinguished invited editor of this issue, I have been asked to put a paragraph up front about its content and length.Four major sections are incorporated: Section 1 deals with both the development and testing of a general theory of sign systems (general semiotics) by examining the early cognitive and linguistic development from birth forward. That section, I believe, is essential reading, providing the necessary groundwork for the three sections that follow where the theory is applied respectively to the neuroarchitecture of the human brain and body in section 2; to genetics, epigenetics, and certain aspects of biochemistry in section 3; and to the immune systems incorporating critical elements of embryological development in section 4. Because of the various threads running throughout the whole, it was decided not to set any one or more of the parts aside as appendices, but rather to advise readers here at the start concerning the organization, and to invite them, if they wish, to pick and choose their sections. The coherence and intelligibility of the general theory depends mainly on sections 1.1-1.5 (roughly the following 8 pages). To appreciate the depth and power of the general theory will require digesting also the p...

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