How the Creation of Meaning Drives Existence
From the intricate dance of bees to the genetic code in our cells, nature is teeming with signs and interpretations. Discover how the creation of meaning may be one of life's most essential characteristics.
Imagine a world without meaning—where smoke doesn't signify fire, a smile conveys no warmth, and words are just empty sounds.
This isn't our world because we are constantly immersed in an invisible ecosystem of meaning created through signs and symbols. This process of meaning-making is called semiosis, and a growing body of scientific thought suggests it's not just a human activity but fundamental to life itself 2 .
DNA functions as a complex semiotic system, with sequences acting as signs for protein production.
Bees communicate pollen locations through intricate dances—a clear example of semiosis in nature.
Plants interpret light as a sign of sustenance, directing their growth toward optimal conditions.
"The entire universe is perfused with signs, if it is not composed exclusively of signs."
At its core, semiotics is the study of signs and how they create meaning. The field rests on a simple but profound insight: a sign is something that stands for something else to someone in some capacity 4 .
Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure and American philosopher Charles Sanders Peirce, the founding figures of modern semiotics in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, developed complementary frameworks for understanding how signs work 1 4 .
Saussure's two-part structure: signifier + signified
Peirce's three-part structure: sign, object, interpretant
Peirce created a powerful classification system for signs that remains influential across scientific disciplines today 4 5 :
| Sign Type | Basis of Relation | Everyday Examples | Biological Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| Icon | Resemblance or similarity | Portraits, maps, onomatopoeia | Camouflage in animals, DNA base pairing |
| Index | Direct physical connection or causation | Smoke (signifying fire), thermometer reading | Symptoms (signifying disease), animal tracks |
| Symbol | Convention or learned agreement | Words, traffic signals, national flags | Genetic code, bee waggle dance |
A COVID-19 test strip functions:
Indexically
when it detects the virus
Iconically
when it shows lines indicating results
Symbolically
when we interpret lines by convention
While semiotics has traditionally been a theoretical field, a revolutionary approach called Experimental Semiotics (ES) has emerged in recent decades to study how new communication systems develop under controlled laboratory conditions 6 7 9 .
In pioneering studies by Healey, Garrod, and colleagues, researchers asked participants to communicate concepts without using any pre-established language 7 9 .
Dyads of participants were placed in separate booths with computer interfaces.
One participant (the "director") conveyed abstract concepts to their partner using only a digital drawing tool.
Participants couldn't use letters, numbers, or conventional symbols.
Concepts were presented multiple times, allowing pairs to develop communicative conventions.
Semiotic Referential Game
This paradigm recreates the fundamental challenge of bootstrapping a communication system from nothing—much like early humans might have developed the first symbolic representations or how children create their own signs before mastering conventional language 9 .
The findings from these experiments revealed fascinating patterns in how signs naturally emerge and evolve:
| Trial Number | Characteristics of Signs | Communication Accuracy | Example Development |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-3 | Detailed, literal, attempts at realistic depiction | Low (25-40%) | "Democracy" drawn as detailed voting scene |
| 4-7 | Simplification, stereotypical features emerge | Moderate (45-65%) | "Democracy" simplified to ballot box |
| 8-12 | Highly abstract, schematic representations | High (70-85%) | "Democracy" becomes abstract checkmark in circle |
| 13+ | Symbolic, arbitrary conventions established | Very High (85-95%) | Unique arbitrary symbol understood only by partners |
Symbols don't emerge through repeated use alone but through "grounding" in shared interaction history 7 .
Even miniature communication systems spontaneously develop systematic relationships between signs 9 .
Researchers investigating semiotic processes across different domains rely on a sophisticated set of methodological tools.
| Tool/Method | Primary Function | Research Applications |
|---|---|---|
| Referential Games | Study how novel signs emerge | Understanding symbol creation, convention formation 7 9 |
| Semiotic Analysis | Decode layers of meaning in complex representations | Analyzing social media, advertising, cultural artifacts 8 |
| Biosemiotic Methods | Track signaling in biological systems | Studying cellular communication, animal signaling |
| Iterated Learning | Observe how signs change across generations | Modeling cultural evolution of language 6 |
| Multimodal Analysis | Examine signs across different sensory channels | Investigating gesture, speech, writing relationships |
These tools have revealed that the principles of semiosis operate at multiple levels of complexity:
The evidence from multiple scientific disciplines points to a profound conclusion: semiosis is not merely a human faculty but a fundamental characteristic of life itself.
From the genetic code that has preserved and transmitted biological information for billions of years to the complex symbolic cultures that define human societies, the creation and interpretation of signs appears to be a universal imperative of living systems 2 .
"Semiotics is concerned with everything that can be taken as a sign."
This perspective transforms how we understand everything from biological evolution to human consciousness. The recognition that we inhabit a universe rich with meaning, rather than a mere collection of mechanical processes, has far-reaching implications for how we approach challenges ranging from environmental conservation to artificial intelligence.
Biology
Understanding life as meaning-making processes
Psychology
Reframing cognition as semiotic processing
AI
Developing systems that understand meaning
Ecology
Recognizing ecosystems as networks of meaning
When we view life itself as semiosis, we begin to recognize that the capacity for meaning-making may be what truly distinguishes the living from the non-living. The continuous dance of signs and interpretations, from the cellular level to the cultural sphere, forms a rich tapestry of meaning that constitutes perhaps the most essential and mysterious property of life as we know it.
As we continue to unravel the secrets of this semiotic universe, we may ultimately find that the creation of meaning is not just something that life does—but what life is.