The Process of Info-Autopoiesis – the Source of all Information

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https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs12304-020-09384-x

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https://doi.org/10.1007/s12304-020-09384-x
 http://hdl.handle.net/11603/18853

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UMBC Mechanical Engineering Department
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2020-05-15

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journal articles postprints
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Cárdenas-García, J.F. The Process of Info-Autopoiesis – the Source of all Information. Biosemiotics (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12304-020-09384-x

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Abstract

All information results from a process, intrinsic to living beings, of info-autopoiesis or information self-production; a sensory commensurable, self-referential feedback process immanent to Bateson’s ‘difference which makes a difference’. To highlight and illustrate the fundamental nature of the info-autopoietic process, initially, two simulations based on one-parameter feedback are presented. The first, simulates a homeostatic control mechanism (thermostat) which is representative of a mechanistic, cybernetic system with very predictable dynamics, fully dependent on an external referent. The second, simulates a homeorhetic process, inherent to biological systems, illustrating a self-referenced, autonomous system. Further, the active incorporation/interference of viral particles by prokaryotic cells and the activation of CRISPR-Cas can be understood as info-autopoiesis at the most fundamental cellular level, as well as constituting a planetary network of self-referenced information. Moreover, other examples of the info- autopoietic nature of information are presented to show the generality of its applicability. In short, info-autopoiesis is a recursive process that is sufficiently generic to be the only basis for information in nature: from the single cell, to multi-cellular organisms, to consideration of all types of natural and non-natural phenomena, including tools and artificial constructions.x`