Origins of Mind
BIOSEMIOTICS VOLUME 8 Series Editors Marcello Barbieri Professor of Embryology University of Ferrara, Italy President Italian Association for Theoretical Biology Editor-in-Chief Biosemiotics Jesper Hoffmeyer Associate Professor in Biochemistry University of Copenhagen President International Society for Biosemiotic Studies Aims and Scope of the Series Combining research approaches from biology, philosophy and linguistics, the emerging fi eld of biosemiotics proposes that animals, plants and single cells all engage insemiosis the conversion of physical signals into conventional signs. This has important implications and applications for issues ranging from natural selection to animal behaviour and human psychology, leaving biosemiotics at the cutting edge of the research on the fundamentals of life. The Springer book series Biosemiotics draws together contributions from leading players in international biosemiotics, producing an unparalleled series that will appeal to all those interested in the origins and evolution of life, including molecular and evolutionary biologists, ecologists, anthropologists, psychologists, philosophers and historians of science, linguists, semioticians and researchers in arti fi cial life, information theory and communication technology. For further volumes: http://www.springer.com/series/7710
Liz Swan Editor Origins of Mind
Editor Liz Swan Longmont CO, USA ISSN 1875-4651 1875-466X (electronic) ISBN 978-94-007-5418-8 ISBN 978-94-007-5419-5 (ebook) DOI 10.1007/978-94-007-5419-5 Springer Dordrecht Heidelberg New York London Library of Congress Control Number: 2012954274 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2013 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, speci fi cally the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on micro fi lms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. Exempted from this legal reservation are brief excerpts in connection with reviews or scholarly analysis or material supplied speci fi cally for the purpose of being entered and executed on a computer system, for exclusive use by the purchaser of the work. Duplication of this publication or parts thereof is permitted only under the provisions of the Copyright Law of the Publisher s location, in its current version, and permission for use must always be obtained from Springer. Permissions for use may be obtained through RightsLink at the Copyright Clearance Center. Violations are liable to prosecution under the respective Copyright Law. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a speci fi c statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. While the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication, neither the authors nor the editors nor the publisher can accept any legal responsibility for any errors or omissions that may be made. The publisher makes no warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein. Printed on acid-free paper Springer is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com)
For my husband Eric, who tells me to keep doing what I m doing.
Acknowledgments This volume is more than a collection of 21 chapters on the origins of mind. It is also a re fl ection of the people whose ideas and encouragement brought it into being. Lou Goldberg set me on a path of thinking about mind in a more scienti fi c and realistic way. Joseph Seckbach kindly invited me to suggest a new Springer book on the topic of origins, and Marcello Barbieri and Jesper Hoffmeyer generously welcomed Origins of Mind into their book series on biosemotics. I am grateful to the wonderful Springer team who helped bring the book to fruition. I d like to thank all of the volume contributors for preparing such insightful chapters on mind, and also the reviewers who helped to make the content clearer and stronger. They include: Bernard Baars, Tom Barbalet, Marcello Barbieri, Megan Burke, Glenn Carruthers, Paul Cobley, Lou Goldberg, Justine Kingsbury, Curtis Metcalfe, Silvia Ouakinin, and David Skrbina. And last but not least, I d like to acknowledge Professor John R. Searle, on the occasion of his 80th birthday (in July 2012) for maintaining throughout his long career in philosophy that human consciousness is a biological phenomenon. Ab uno disce omnes. vii
Contents Introduction: Exploring the Origins of Mindedness in Nature... 1 Liz Swan Biosemiotics Organic Codes and the Natural History of Mind... 21 Marcello Barbieri The Descent of Humanity: The Biological Roots of Human Consciousness, Culture and History... 53 Angelo N.M. Recchia-Luciani From Non-minds to Minds: Biosemantics and the Tertium Quid... 85 Crystal L Hôte Cybersemiotics: A New Foundation for a Transdisciplinary Theory of Consciousness, Cognition, Meaning and Communication... 97 Soren Brier Mental Representation The Emergence of Empathy in the Context of Cross-Species Mind Reading... 129 John Sarnecki The Evolution of Scenario Visualization and the Early Hominin Mind... 143 Robert Arp Representation in Biological Systems: Teleofunction, Etiology, and Structural Preservation... 161 Michael Nair-Collins ix
x Contents Beyond Embodiment: From Internal Representation of Action to Symbolic Processes... 187 Isabel Barahona da Fonseca, Jose Barahona da Fonseca, and Vitor Pereira Consciousness Imitation, Skill Learning, and Conceptual Thought: An Embodied, Developmental Approach... 203 Ellen Fridland Evolving Consciousness: The Very Idea!... 225 James H. Fetzer Mind or Mechanism: Which Came First?... 243 Teed Rockwell Origins of the Qualitative Aspects of Consciousness: Evolutionary Answers to Chalmers Hard Problem... 259 Jonathan Y. Tsou Philosophy of Mind Neuropragmatism on the Origins of Conscious Minding... 273 Tibor Solymosi Not So Exceptional: Away from Chomskian Saltationism and Towards a Naturally Gradual Account of Mindfulness... 289 Andrew M. Winters and Alex Levine Mental Organs and the Origins of Mind... 301 Thomas S. Ray Mnemo-psychography: The Origin of Mind and the Problem of Biological Memory Storage... 327 Frank Scalambrino Synthetic Intelligence Minimal Mind... 343 Alexei A. Sharov Concept Combination and the Origins of Complex Cognition... 361 Liane Gabora and Kirsty Kitto
Contents xi The Mind of the Noble Ape in Three Simulations... 383 Tom Barbalet From the Natural Brain to the Arti fi cial Mind... 399 Massimo Negrotti Index... 411