(Bio)Semiosis as Life-Specific Form of Agency

This text is an attempt to bring into harmony various models aimed at characterising the realm of the living, from purely physical notions such as dissipative structures, through autonomous agents, up to analogies with human cultures. Life is characterised by innerness and the ability to extract meaning from both the surrounding world and mutual understanding of different life-forms in the biosphere, while drawing upon the memory and experience of individuals and/or communities. Individuals as well as entire communities interpret all such inputs and decide upon their ways of living in the present, as well as in the nearest future.