0941 Potential meaning resides in [presence]. Potential signs reside in [message].
Does that seem rational?
0942 Here is a picture.
0943 In section 7.6, the author asks whether there can be potential meaning in a world without meaning (that is, life)?
0944 Now, if you (the reader) think that my last story about Daisy is implausible, then approach my answer as if it is a movie. Movies only work when one suspends disbelief. Movies are full of implausible moments. But, the more unlikely feature is that we (humans) imagine that the illusion of moving pictures is real. What other species watches television and responds as if the moving images convey realness?
My answer concludes at point 0964.
0945 Of course, there are physical processes that have emergent properties. This topic of inquiry is examined in Parts 1 and 2 of Comments on Mariusz Tabaczek’s Arc of Inquiry (2019-2024) (by Razie Mah, available at smashwords and other e-book venues). This commentary addresses three books Emergence (2019), Divine Action and Emergence(2021), and Theistic Evolution (2024). This commentary is echoed in points 0288 through 0300. These points lead into an examination of chapter 5 of Semiotic Agency (titled “Origins of Life”) and chapter 9 of Pathways (titled “Chemical Origins of Life”).
0946 If I adjust the intensity of the colors, then I can depict a world before meaning.
0947 Since biosemiotics and life are co-extensive (by definition), a non-living anti-entropic emergent being (such as a waterspout or an oil droplet in water) has no “proper semiotics”. The purely relational structure of biosemiotics dwells in the realm of possibility.
Even stranger, neither [presence] nor [message], the harbors of potential meaning and potential sign, respectively, are real elements. They are contiguities between real elements.
0948 Here is a picture, highlighting how these contiguities stand between real elements in a single actuality2. They are like [substance].
At last, I can say, “Without [message], there is no sign to manifest [presence]. Without [presence], there is no [meaning].”
Without content, there is no situation. Without situation, there is no perspective.
0949 So, the question arises, “Can there be content without perspective?”
The answer is yes and no.
The answer is yes by way of example.
The answer is no, because without meaning, how can there be a message?
How about that example?
Imagine a molecular amino acid floating along a conduit in a hydrothermal vent. It hits a rock and clings to that rock due to electrostatics. Then, it finds its way into a micropore, which is completely lined with organic chemicals with similar properties. They electrostatically cling to the surface of the micropore. Plus, there is a little circulation. Occasional pulses bring organic material in, but (since the organic molecules cling to the crystalline walls and to one another) no organic chemicals go out.