Cell Language Theory, The: Connecting Mind And Matter

The Universality of the Irreducible Triadic Relation 383

“6x9” b2861 The Cell Language Theory: Connecting Mind and Matter

triadic network depicted above embodies the information–energy comple-

mentarity (or gnergy) principle (see Section 2.9) [24; 25, pp. 93; 26–50]).

Just as the golden ratio applies universally to systems ranging from

atoms to the cosmos (see Section 9.4.1), so the ITR embodied in the

Peircean sign (Section 6.3.1) and in the mathematical category [371] also

applies universally to systems ranging from atoms to the cosmos, as sum-

marized in Table 9.1 and Figure 9.3.

9.3 ITR in Peirce’s Hypostatic Abstraction

Stjernfelt writes [482, p. 195]:

Peirce adds the idea that it is the very capacity of hypostatizing an

abstract relation, representing it as if it were a thing, which is the key

to self-control: The process consists, psychologically, in catching one

of the transient elements of thought upon the wing and converting it

into one of the resting places of the mind. (9.8)

When I read this paragraph, I scribbled on the margin of the page as follows:

Hypostatizing = transforming dissipative structures to equilibrium

structures. (9.9)

In other words, (9.9) states that the molecular mechanisms underlying

the psychological process of hypostatizing (e.g., converting the predicate,

“is sweet”, to the noun, “sweetness”) may be akin (or related) to transform-

ing dissipative structures (e.g., neural firing patterns underlying the experi-

ence of the sweet taste) to equilibrium structures (e.g., the structural

changes in some memory neurons in the brain) in nonequilibrium thermo-

dynamics pioneered by Prigogine and his coworkers [57, 248] and others.

According to Prigogine [384], the DS to ES conversion provides the

general molecular mechanism for “encapsulating time into matter”. The

idea may be symbolically represented as follows:

DS ES = Time Matter (9.10)

For convenience, I will refer to this idea as the Prigoginian mecha-

nism of encoding time into matter (PMETM). All of the abiotic structure

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