18:44, Monday 10 Feb., 2003 Link

Biosemiotics: Towards a New Synthesis in Biology [via a sylloge comment]. "The semiotisation of nature as a trend in 20th century life science is discussed. The reasons for this trend is analysed and it is claimed that semiosis is an emergent property in our universe appearing with the first life forms nearly 4 billion years ago. From this tender beginning semiotic freedom has increased throughout organic evolution, and it is suggested that this fact holds the key to an eventual bridging of the gap between history in the sense of thermodynamic irreversibility and history in the sense of human culture. A unification of biology, a true 'modern synthesis', should base its understanding of evolution on a semiotic theroy of life". Now I've no idea what biosemiotics is but it sounds awesome, and worthy of investigation based on its name alone. Furthermore a rich metaphor mine, I'd hazard.