Retired biologist (pathology). Living in an intellectual desert, interested in everything. Citizen of Pangea. Aspie.
Lzvolk
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Alright! Just when we were getting too comfortable, eukaryogenesis gets 'messy'. To be honest, I'd be surprised if it wasn't more complex than we thought. Always be receptive to new information.
Good thread and related paper!
#eukaryotes
Addendum: Being Asperger's I don't grasp most metaphors & jokes. When 'agency' gained popularity, it irritated(s) me. The scientist (post 1) I asked what it meant didn't have a clear answer. Now it's used often in abiogenesis w/ no clarification. So I dove down a rabbit hole. (my only metaphor😏 )
Biosemiotics may be a challenging concept for some biologists to accept. Partly because of its association w/ philosophy of semiotics & language. Many scientists & the public do not consider philosophy & language pertinent to biology & chemistry.
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'Agency' is ubiquitously used in several contexts to the point it's often ambiguous & a broken link in communication. Especially within the biological/chemical/physical sciences (eg life's origins).
"It's a metaphor."
"A metaphor for what? What do you mean by 'agency'?"
"Umm, well....."
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In biosemiotics 'agency' is a model of learning systems, signs, signals, etc used in biology: "a system’s ability to correctly interpret external data, to learn from such data, & to use those learnings to achieve specific goals & tasks through flexible adaptation." (Caetano-Anollés)
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It is often thought that philosophy is objective, yet science is historically partly based in philosophy (logical & systems thinking).
For your own deep dive, I recommend: "Agency in evolution of biomolecular communication", Gustavo Caetano-Anollés (2023). Cheers!
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It also applies to chemistry & physics, both inherent in abiogenesis. Sharov & Tonnessen ('Origins of Life', in "Semiotic Agency", 2022, chapter 5) review the hypotheses for the origin of life in the context of biosemiotics & agency.
link.springer.com/chapter/10.1...
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Metaphors, analogies, etc are semiotic tropes. "Metaphors & analogies can be helpful, or they can be misleading. All depends of whether the similarities the metaphor captures are significant or superficial.” (H. A. Simon) Semiotics is important; agency is not a trope.
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