Cybersemiotics and Human Modelling

Cybersemiotics proposes a new philosophy of science that addresses the failure of existing disciplines to account for qualia and motivation, challenges the computational information-processing view of knowing, and examines the role of the observer. This article argues that the constructivist basis of 'languaging' within cybersemiotics presents a potential impediment. It contends that the central issue for cybersemiotics is the process of 'modelling' in biosemiotics, not language itself. The author argues that future biosemiotics research will benefit from a clearer understanding of 'observership' and that the relationship between constructivism and realism must be clarified, with tools available from general semiotics.

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Abstract

Cybersemiotics, in forging a new philosophy of science, addresses the failure of all disciplines to recognize and adequately account for qualia and motivation, interrogates the status of ‘knowing’ contra the computational information-processing paradigm, and explores the role of the observer in knowing. The present article discusses these key features of cybersemiotics and, in particular, their consequences for biosemiotics (to which cybersemiotics is a contributor). It argues that the constructivist basis of ‘languaging’ in the cybersemiotic project presents a potential impediment. It suggests that although ‘language’ is clearly in question in conceptualizing ‘knowing’ and ‘observing’, the main issue for cybersemiotics has to do with the more general process of ‘modelling’ that features in biosemiotics. Whilst the future of research in the sphere of biosemiotics will be enhanced by a greater understanding of ‘observership’, the article argues that aspects of the relationship of constructivism and realism will need to be made clear, and that the tools for this are available closer to cybersemiotics’ home in general semiotics.