Maria Isabel Aldinhas Ferreira

On Meaning: A Biosemiotic Approach

A life form and its environment constitute an essential unit, a microcosm. This microcosm is sustained by a privileged dialectic relationship in which the embedded agent- an entity endowed with a particular physical architecture- and its specific environment, coupled, mutually influence each other. Identical principles rule both the basic forms of semiotic organisation and the upper forms. When we distinguish these two levels of semiotic structuring we are distinguishing the semiotic relations that involve a stimulus-response relationship, which is dyadic in nature, from those that involve a more complex relationship where the capacity of symbolically encoding allows organisms to go beyond the immediacy of sensory awareness. However in all instances of semiotic structuring, there is the presence of a living system that evolves in an environment individuating and assigning a value to typical environmental features. Acknowledging this fact is crucial: the inquiry into how elemental life forms interact with their environments leads to the identification of the fundamental role played by the physical architecture of the agent and sheds light on the semiotic process that is common to all life forms, ultimately highlighting the very nature of meaning and reality.

Modelling Artificial Cognition in Biosemiotic Terms

Stemming from Uexkull’s fundamental concepts of Umwelt and Innenwelt as developed in the biosemiotic approach of Ferreira 2010, 2011, the present work models mathematically the semiosis of cognition and proposes an artificial cognitive architecture to be deployed in a robotic structure.

Interactive Bodies: The Semiosis of Architectural Forms

In this paper architectural forms are presented as symbolic forms issued from the complex semiosis that characterises human cognition (Ferreira (2007, 2010)). Being semiotic objects, these symbolic forms are, consequently, context- dependent_they emerge and have meaning, i.e., they are assigned a functional and/or aesthetic value, in particular physical, social and cultural frameworks. As it happens with all semiotic objects, architectural forms, whatever their nature, are not static but highly interactive. In fact, they act as agents of specific semiotic processes, engaged in a permanent dialectic relationship with the environment they are embedded in. From this dialectics important physical, social, cultural and economic changes frequently arise, redefining this way the original framework for decades to come. As Pallasmaa (2009) points out: “Architecture is existentially rooted, and it expresses fundamental existential experiences, the complex condensation of how it feels to be human being in this world. Architecture grounds and frames existence and creates specific horizons of perception, understanding and identity.” Architecture happens in the context of particular landscapes both natural and man-made, individuating spaces, assigning them an identity, turning the frequently undifferentiated physical environment into “locus”, “place”, “site”, “ort”, definitely contributing to the definition of the mental map that individual minds are able to share collectively. The fundamental role played by architectural forms in the definition of “place” and identity and in the shaping or reshaping of a physical, social and cultural environment is analysed in this paper through a case study that observes the consequences of this dynamics in the development of the social and cultural tissue of a particular city.

The Concept of Umwelt Overlap and its Application to Cooperative Action in Multi-Agent Systems

The present paper stems from the biosemiotic modelling of individual artificial cognition proposed by Ferreira and Caldas (2012) but goes further by introducing the concept of Umwelt Overlap. The introduction of this concept is of fundamental importance making the present model closer to natural cognition. In fact cognition can only be viewed as a purely individual phenomenon for analytical purposes. In nature it always involves the crisscrossing of the spheres of action of those sharing the same environmental bubble. Plus, the incorporation of that concept is vital to understand the complex semiosis that sustains collective tissues, societies, regulating collective cognition and consequently cooperative action. The concept of Umwelt Overlap broadens the range of applicability of the previous model to several distinct domains allowing for example for its application to multi-agent cooperative autonomous systems. In this paper a Middle Size League RoboCup soccer team is used as an example of a possible application.

Typical Cyclical Behavioural Patterns: The Case of Routines, Rituals and Celebrations

The dynamics inherent to the life activity of all living systems presents itself in the form of regular patterns viewed by the observer as taking place in an extended timeline. Routines, rituals and celebrations, each in their own way, are defined by the typical cyclical behavioural patterns exhibited by individuals embedded in specific semiospheres. The particular nature of these semiospheres will determine the distinct patterns of behaviour to be adopted in different life contexts so that existential functions are fulfilled. The restricted and protected family circle normally provides the initial learning environment where the definition of the individual’s Umwelt (von Uexküll 1909, 1934; Ferreira, Biosemiotics 3(1):107–130, 2010, 2011) his/her meaningful world, starts to take shape. This learning process comprehends the progressive identification of distinct physical entities, the development of basic patterns of physical and social behaviour- the incorporation of basic routines and the assignment of meaning to particular events.

A World with Robots

Preface: The increasing deployment of robotic technology in many domains of human life will have a substantial impact on the economic, social and cultural tissues of our societies. Though one can already anticipate some of its huge benefits, it also urges us to try to reflect on its impact on fundamental instances of everyday life and also envisage to what extent essential societal values on which we have based our cultures and legal systems may be eventually affected.

Cognitive Architectures: The Dialectics of Agent/Environment

In what concerns living systems, cognition is an embodied, embedded and always situated experience. This means that it involves an entity endowed with a particular physical architecture bound in a dialectical relationship with the environment in which it is immersed, behaving according to the prompts placed by this environment, reacting, learning and adapting to it defining this way its own existential narrative and history. Highlighting the fact that human cognition stems from more simple and basic forms of cognition with which it shares essential life mechanisms, the present chapter focuses on the essential semiosic process that is inherent to the dialectics agent/environment and the role played by corporeal architectures in the construction of meaningful worlds, namely, the hybrid realities, where natural and artificial intelligence cohabit.

Nós e Os Robots/Os Robots e Nós: Insights from an Exhibition

Being an integrant part of ICRE 2015, the exhibition “Nos e os Robots/Os Robots e Nos”, “We and the Robots/The Robots and Us” aimed to bring robotic technology closer to the average citizen in an educational effort that, we believe, should precede the massive deployment of all Information and Communication Technologies and that becomes particularly needed at the verge of a widespread use of robotic technology. This paper gives a brief account of the content and organization of that exhibition and of how the public reacted to it.

Robots in Ageing Societies

Addressing the topic of ageing societies, the present paper stresses the importance of preserving the autonomy, social participation and affective bonds of elders. Claiming that maintaining the social and affective ties that link someone to their home environment and to their close family and friends is fundamental for physical and mental health, and consequently for extended years of life with quality, the authors identify the potential benefits of assistive/domestic robots adverting to the potential ethical issues to be safeguarded.

Semiosis: The Dialectics of Cognition

Semiosis is the dialectic relationship that binds the organism and its surrounding world. Standing at the core of all forms of cognition, it guarantees the identity, cohesion and sustainability of individual microcosms. Grounded on Uexkull’s concepts of Umwelt and Innenwelt, this chapter presents a mathematical model for the semiosis of cognition.