0434 The text before me is chapter twelve in Pathways to the Origin and Evolution of Meanings in the Universe (2024, edited by Alexei Sharov and George E. Mikhailovsky, pages 265-278). The full title is “Evolutionary Growth of Meanings in the Relational Universe of Intercommunicating Agents”. The author is a biologist at the Memorial University of Newfoundland, at St. John’s.
0435 The introduction places the term, “agent”, on stage.
How does one know whether “an agent” is an agent?
Well, the agent should be obvious. An agent is physical. An agent is the repository of – what Aristotle calls – “final causality”. Final causality associates to another metaphysics-laden term, “teleology”.
What is the meaning of this term, “repository”.
0436 I only ask this because the thing that we encounter in science associates to what is for the Positivist’s judgment. Sharov and Tonnessen’s noumenal overlay pertains to what is, and it describes semiotic agency. Semiotic agency (as the noumenon) gives rise to phenomena that are observed and measured by biologists, then the resulting models are attributed, not to agency2 itself, but to the agent3 and the agent’s intentions1 (that is, final causalities).
0437 “Repository” plays out as a category-based nested form.
The normal context of an agent3 brings the actuality of semiotic agency2 into relation with the possibilities inherent in ‘final causality’1.
The agent3 puts semiotic agency2 into context. Semiotic agency2 emerges from (and situates) the potential of ‘teleology’1.
These basics are found in A Primer on the Category-Based Nested Form, by Razie Mah, available at smashwords and other e-book venues.
0438 The image of “the agent” as “an obvious repository of final causality” treats the category-based nested form diagrammed above as a thing.
The author presents the image without hesitation, as if that is what human naturally do. Humans not only treat a thing as a thing, but we also treat a corresponding category-based nested form as a thing. Not the same “thing”, but still, a thing.
We observe semiotic agency2. We visualize the agent3 as a physical repository of final causality1.
0439 What does this imply?
Consider the title of the chapter, Evolutionary Growth of Meanings in the Relational Universe of Intercommunicating Agents.
Where do I slip the category-based nested form into this title?
Do category-based nested forms slide into the author’s designation of “relational universe”?
If so, then the substitution brings this examiner face to face with where the author seems to be going, the recovery of Aristotle’s causalities within the milieu of biosemiotics.
0440 If that is the case, let me present a more hylomorphic version of the category-based nested form.
0441 Notice that actuality2 corresponds to Peirce’s category of secondness. Secondness consists of two contiguous real elements. In the figure, the contiguity is placed in brackets for the purposes of notation.
For example, for Aristotle, when I encounter a thing, the two real elements that come to mind are matter and form. Matter is necessary for presence. Form is necessary for shape. What is the contiguity between matter and form? Here, I snatch a term that has been much abused, because it has been so difficult to grasp. The term is “substance”. I now assign a very specific, technical definition to the term in hand. “Substance” is the contiguity between matter and form.
0442 Aristotle’s hylomorphe is an exemplar of Peirce’s category of secondness.
Thus, the recovery of Aristotle’s terminology in the biosemiotic milieu begins.
0443 Abir Igamberdiev is not the only one to imagine a recovery of Aristotle’s causality in light of the postmodern compromise of the positivist intellect.
Mariusz Tabaczek pursues a recovery in the field of emergence. Emergence endeavors to account for the constellation of higher-order noumena that could not be predicted on the basis of lower-level noumena. Like biosemiotics, the goal is understanding, rather than prediction and control.
See Comments on Mariusz Tabaczek’s Arc of Inquiry (2019-2024) by Razie Mah, available at smashwords and other e-book venues. Much of this commentary may be found in Razie Mah’s blog for March, April and May 2024. Tabaczek’s work is discussed in this examination in points 0276 to 0300.
0460 Section 12.3 covers meaningful information in autopoetic systems.
“Auto” means “self”. “Poetic” means “powered”.
0461 To start, the universe is full of spontaneous processes that may be modeled by truncated material and efficient causes. Entropy increases. Agency does not need to be present.
Autopoetic systems are not really self-powered. Instead, they entangle a spontaneous process (where entropy increases) in a triadic relation, so that, as movement towards thermodynamic equilibrium proceeds, some of the free energy is diverted to the maintenance and construction of an “autopoetic” being. This is the nature of emergence. Emergence associates to life.
0462 Igamberdiev notices that biological dynamics include both low-energy and high-energy processes separated by an epistemic cut. The epistemic cut becomes obvious when visualizing the way that formal and final causes envelope material and efficient causes. Formal and final causes associate to “low-energy”. Material and efficient causes go with “higher-energy”.
In the above figure. Low-energy describes the ontolon (in purple). Higher-energy describes the vortices (in green).
0463 Now, it seems that the low-energy and the high-energy dynamics must work in tandem. For example, models of self governance and potential courses of action and of salience should capture basic structural interactions between a living organism and its environment. Jacob von Uexkull (1864-1944 AD) coins the term, “Functionkreis”. Functionkreis may be regarded as systems of reflexive loops (vortexes) generating a network of biological codes(ontolons).
0464 Codes?
Yes, the concept of codes is already discussed in points 0409 through 0433.
0465 The high-energy, hard work of Functionkreis is investigated in biological laboratories throughout the world. What are the truncated material and efficient causalities that go into… say… whether a mitochondria is operating properly or malfunctioning? Laboratory scientists aim for mechanistic answers, but the terminology that frames their research questions betray the biosemiotic reality that they cannot allow to infect their methodologies.
The low-energy, epistemologically relevant work of codes is investigated by biosemiotics, as shown in the following figure.
0466 In section 12.4, Igamberdiev introduces the term, “codepoesis”.
Codepoesis contrasts with autopoesis.
“Codepoesis” labels an intrinsic property of biological entities, where the holistic living system maps out onto a finite set of constituent… um… semiotic agents. Yes, the organism maps (through codepoesis) onto its organs and systems as semiotic agents. Then, organs and systems as semiotic agents map onto tissues and anatomical arrangements.
0467 The list continues downwards towards physical poesis.
Upwards, the list ends with a holistic terminus that exhibits the rewards of codepoesis, but itself is not so bound by a superior level of code. In autopoesis, the “soul” is the kinetic perfection (substitute the word, “completion”, for “perfection”) of the body and the body is the holistic terminus of codepoesis. The levels of codepoesis may also be called “subagencies”.
0468 In section 12.5, Igamberdiev adds one more level of poesis. The autopoesis of the individual human occurs within a super-organism that has its own autonomy.
0469 Here, at the end of Part II of Pathways to the Origin and Evolution of Meanings in the Universe (2024, edited by Alexei Sharov and George E. Mikhailovsky, pages 187-278), the value of the category-based nested form comes to the fore as a style of semiotic inquiry within the category of sociopoesis.
Igamberdiev lays out a hierarchy as well as a frame for that hierarchy.
Sharov and Tonnessen’s semiotic agency captures what is common in all biological processes.
Sharov and Tonnessen propose their noumenal overlay within the hierarchy of sociopoesis.
So, Abir Igamberdiev seems to get the last word.
0470 This concludes my examination of Part II of Pathways, containing chapters nine through twelve titled and “Meanings in the Evolution of Life”. My thanks to each author and the editors for publishing these challenging essays.
0001 The Grammy Awards Ceremony is broadcast February 5, 2023. Sam Smith and Kim Petras win the grammy in the category of Best Pop Duo or Group Performance for their song, “Unholy”. Their grammy performance quickly goes viral, with many Christian podcasters dubbing the performance… say nothing of the ceremony… “Satanic”.
To wit, I now examine the official video for this song (not the Grammy performance) for the unholy message that the song sends. My conclusion is that the moniker, “Satanic”, may apply. But, so does the word, “political”. This music video spins an artistic message, at once cryptic and revealing. I strive to delineate this message, using the methodology of the category-based nested form.
0002 This music video is an actuality.
According to A Primer on the Category-Based Nested Form (available at smashwords and other e-work venues), in order to understand (or appreciate) an actuality2, one must figure out its normal context3 and potential1. So, this is what I intend to do. My determination of normal contexts3 and potentials1 is purely speculative. Do not take them as judgment or doctrine.
I start with a guess. The normal context3 is politics. The potential1 is for ‘something Satanic to be exposed’. Thus, the normal context of politics3 brings the pop-music video, “unholy”2, into relation with the possibilities inherent in ‘an exposure of something Satanic’1. Maybe, Satan shows his plans for the future. Who knows?
Here is a picture.
Figure 01
0003 Politics?
The song is released on September 22, 2022, six weeks before the November midterm elections in the USA. The November 8, 2022, elections occur at the time of a lunar eclipse.
0004 So, I suspect that politics3 includes astrology3.
Several astrological squares and oppositions are in play on September 22, 2022. Here is a picture of some of them.
Figure 02
0005 The Saturn-Uranus square is at the top of the list, since it dominates the last half of 2021 and almost all of 2022, including the span from September through November. In the following figure, a zodiac sign is the normal context3, a planet is the actuality2, and the potential pertains to the astrological characteristics of such an arragement1. When two planets are at right angles to one another, it is almost as if they work at cross purposes.
Here is a picture.
Figure 03
0006 So, the release date offers clues to the potential of ‘stellar arrangements’1. Whatever Satan is preparing, it is simultaneously a cold calculation and a steaming pile of manure.
0007 Speaking of cold calculations, the video begins.
A woman in white gets out of a car. Is she the daemon of the American Democratic Party? What is a white woman? A woman who has abandoned Jesus and found… shall I say?… someone willing to put a warm coat of manufactured virtueupon her? She is obviously highly educated. She is well manicured. As he goes to park the car, she enters the foyer. She reaches into her pocket and lifts out a playbill (an official narrative) and a condom from the Body Shop (protection, of sorts).
0008 Here is a diagram of the first of five movements in the video itself.
Figure 04
0009 Well, isn’t that the way the music video starts?
Biden is a good looking man. He drives the car and parks it at the Body Shop. He has been there before. He knows the price of things. The lyrics mention daddy. Daddy Biden. Shall I call him Biden Joe? Biden goes up the stairs and passes the whores of various nations. Can I make out China, Iran and Ukraine? Miss Ukraine devours the blossoming youth of her nation.
Biden Joe is tempted. And, he knows how to play the game.
Figure 05
0010 Someone pulls on Biden Joe’s tie. Then, a vision captures his gaze. Biden is in a booth, overlooking a theater. He engages two active parties (Ukraine and China?), in pay for play. Biden sees Biden. Joe observes Hunter. Both are the same person.
Say what?
0011 Suddenly, Sam Smith, perched in a balcony seat in the theater of the Body Shop, captures the viewer’s gaze then hurtles it towards the blue center-stage, where Kim Petras descends upon a swing in the shape of a heart. Her madonna-like visage lands on the top of an automobile. American, no doubt. Biden Hunter is in the back seat, in full erotic rutting. He has what it takes to satisfy the material girl. He is in deep doo-doo (English, for “fumier”).
Figure 06
0012 In the fourth movement, Biden is spent and on display, mimicking the Hangman of the Tarot Cards. The Hangman card is often interpreted as the potential of an unusual revelation. Here, the revelation is compromising. Biden is exposed (on top of the car, for all to see) as who he is (a load of manure, for all to smell).
Figure 07
0013 The drama is not over.
The spent handsome man, simultaneously the daddy and the man-child, lays on stage as completely revealed to an American public as a liar and a cheat. It is written on the car. The entire dance troupe awaits the next moment. The audience in the theater (perhaps, the mavens of corporate media) applaud. What a performance!
Then, the white woman walks up the aisle towards the stage. Who knows how she got there? But, she is there to render a judgment. She steps on stage and observes the prone corpse of her man, in a pure Saturn-square-Uranus pose of cold calculation looking upon someone who could not keep his business clean.
She turns and faces the audience.
She has a choice.
0014 Here, we see the crux. Here, we see the materialization of ‘something’ that Satan wishes to be revealed. It is all about choice.
Does the white woman, a key demographic that remains wedded to the Democratic Party, repudiate the man that she was led to believe in, and embrace the perverse machinations of the Body Shop, the apparatus for the temptation of the father and for the corruption of the son?
Or, does she repent?
0015 Here is the message.
Figure 08
0016 The curtain falls. But, there is one small issue. A foot of the corpse remains on display, indicating that what has been exposed is not for certain. Not even Satan knows the future for certain. Sam Smith and Kim Petras are big fans of the projected outcome. But, the story has only begun.
0017 Now, I recapitulate.
First, I place the work of art under examination into the slot for actuality in a category-based nested form.
Figure 09
0018 I make an initial guess. My guess is informed by Christian podcasters commenting on the Grammy ceremony.
Then , I proceed to imagine the normal context3 and potential1 of various aspects2 (here, movements2 within the drama). Do these cohere with my initial guess? Some will say, “Yes.” Others will say, “No”.
0019 Here is the breakout for the realm of actuality2.
Figure 10
0020 Do these cohere with the realness of the music video?
Yes, these are the actualities2 that I endeavor to put into normal contexts3 and potentials1.
0021 What does this imply?
The astrology of the time of release frames the movements in term of a square between Saturn in Aquarius and Uranus in Taurus. The artist pours out a beautiful and captivating music video with two figures represented as one. Yes, that one handsome man, like a bull, is simultaneously Daedalus, who fashions the wings of escape, and Icarus, who uses the wings, fashioned by his father, to fly too close to the Sun. To me, this associates to the contemporary story of Joe and Hunter Biden. Oh, did I mention that Jupiter in Aries is in opposition with the Sun in Libra?
And what of the woman in white?
Does the white woman represent one of the most faithful demographics wed to the Democratic party?
She opens and closes the music video.
0022 Here is the breakout for the realm of normal context3.
Figure 11
0023 What does that imply?
The normal context3 of astrology addresses a post-Christian world. In this pagan world, certain bonds, certain promises, and certain rituals are presumed to be substantial. But they are not. The woman in white lives in a world of pretensions. The playbill recounts an official narrative. And, the condom? That is official, too.
The Body Shop manifests the will to power in the furnishings of materialism. The philosophy of the will to power asks one to pay for entrance into the Body Shop. Daddy is hot. Daddy cannot hide his business. But, he retains restraint. Not so, his son, who is the same as the father. The symbolism of the double is striking. Temptation for the father translates into lust with the son. The father and the son are both out of control. Both are to be exposed and ruined.
Where?
On the stage of the Body Shop.
0024 Where does that leave the white woman?
She faces a choice.
And, that choice reveals ‘something’ Satanic.
Satan dreams that her choice comes to pass.
0025 Here is the breakout for the realm of potential1.
Figure 12
0026 The story of the stars offers a narrative of fate.
In our world of pretensions, playbills offer narratives and condoms offer protection.
From fate?
0027 The Body Shop seals the fate of the one man, who is really two. Daddy wants something to keep himself warm. The son wants someone to cool himself off. But, the selves are no different. They both subscribe to the Body Shop. For them, the choice is already made. Their destiny is certain.
0028 But, is the same fate necessary for the woman?
I don’t think so.
If anything, this advertisement for the Body Shop aims to foreclose any option that prevents the destiny that Satan plans for her.
She has a choice.
Unholy or holy?
Will she signal her manufactured virtue by repudiating her own ruined man, while simultaneously bonding with the unholy Body Shop?
Or, will she mourn the loss of her pretensions, and appeal to the love of God?
0029 I reiterate. These associations and implications are purely speculative. They are to be taken as an act of appreciation, rather than a judgment or a doctrine. My thanks to Sam Smith, Kim Petras, along with their collaborators, for producing this engaging music video. Here is a work of art worth examining.
With that said, I recount my initial guess.
Figure 13
0030 For those interested in trying their own hand at this diagrammatic method of art appreciation, please consult A Primer on the Category-Based Nested Form and A Primer on Sensible and Social Construction (by Razie Mah, available at smashwords and other e-book venues).
Here are some other music videos worth trying the method on.
“I Wanna Get Better” by the Bleachers
“Doom days” by Bastille
“Welcome to the Black Parade” by My Chemical Romance
“This is Gospel” by Panic at the Disco, plus its sequel
“Hi Ren” by Ren
0031 If the reader wants to suggest other music videos worthy of examination using this method, please e-mail Razie Mah at the address that appears in the Primers.
