Biosemiotics: Monkeys, Metallica, and Music

A direct link to the above video is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82zjaUNmvj0

Early this year I published a blog entry called Monkeys Love Metallica, the above new YouTube video is a vlog version of that same entry.

I learned a new word today: "biosemiotics". Here's part of what wikipedia says about this concept:

Biosemiotics (from the Greek bios meaning "life" and semeion meaning "sign") is a growing field that studies the production, action and interpretation of signs in the biological realm. Biosemiotics attempts to integrate the findings of scientific biology and semiotics, representing a paradigmatic shift in the occidental scientific view of life, demonstrating that semiosis (sign process, including meaning and interpretation) is its immanent and intrinsic feature. The term "biosemiotic" was first used by Friedrich S. Rothschild in 1962, but Thomas Sebeok and Thure von Uexküll have done much to popularize the term and field.[1] The field, which challenges normative views of biology, is generally divided between theoretical and applied biosemiotics, with the former dominating the latter.

Biosemiotics is that branch of one, which deals with the study of production, action and interpretation of signs in the biological field.

Here's a link to the New Scientist magazine article that introduced me to this concept, please check it out!

So. Why did the monkeys in the study discussed in the video we looked at above become more calm when they were listening to Tool or Metallica? If you watch the video or read its attached blog entry, I believe you'll see that this new science of biosemiotics is not far off from the connections I've been exploring since this project began, and the underlying information equals reality paradigm. How cool is that?

Enjoy the journey!

Rob Bryanton

Next: Constructive Interference and Quantum Observer