Nakajima Toshiyuki
Department of Biology, Ehime University, Matsuyama 790-0826, Japan.
Entropy (Basel). 2024 Aug 2;26(8):660. doi: 10.3390/e26080660.
Living systems (LSs) must solve the problem of adapting to their environment by identifying external states and acting appropriately to maintain external relationships and internal order for survival and reproduction. This challenge is akin to the philosophical enigma of how the self can escape solipsism. In this study, a comprehensive model is developed to address the adaptation problem. LSs are composed of material entities capable of detecting their external states. This detection is conceptualized as "cognition", a state change in relation to its external states. This study extends the concept of cognition to include three hierarchical levels of the world: physical, chemical, and semiotic cognitions, with semiotic cognition being closest to the conventional meaning of cognition. This radical extension of the cognition concept to all levels of the world provides a monistic model named the cognizers system model, in which mind and matter are unified as a single entity, the "cognizer". During evolution, LSs invented semiotic cognition based on physical and chemical cognitions to manage the probability distribution of events that occur to them. This study proposes a theoretical model in which semiotic cognition is an adaptive process wherein the inverse causality operation produces particular internal states as symbols that signify hidden external states. This operation makes LSs aware of the external world.
生命系统（LSs）必须通过识别外部状态并采取适当行动来解决适应环境的问题，以维持外部关系和内部秩序，从而实现生存和繁殖。这一挑战类似于自我如何摆脱唯我论的哲学谜团。在本研究中，开发了一个综合模型来解决适应问题。生命系统由能够检测其外部状态的物质实体组成。这种检测被概念化为“认知”，即与其外部状态相关的状态变化。本研究将认知概念扩展到包括世界的三个层次：物理认知、化学认知和符号认知，其中符号认知最接近认知的传统含义。将认知概念彻底扩展到世界的所有层次，提供了一个名为认知者系统模型的一元模型，其中心灵和物质统一为一个单一实体，即“认知者”。在进化过程中，生命系统基于物理和化学认知发明了符号认知，以管理发生在它们身上的事件的概率分布。本研究提出了一个理论模型，其中符号认知是一个自适应过程，在这个过程中，反向因果操作产生特定的内部状态作为符号，这些符号表示隐藏的外部状态。这种操作使生命系统能够感知外部世界。
