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• What is Biocognition?

I use this term to denote the peculiar realities of organismal cognition, and to differentiate this from mechanical models or processes which humans generally lump together when speaking about cognition. In this case, organismal cognition, of which we can discern two basic forms: local, and distributed.

Local biocognition is generally hypersystemic in nature, potential and function, by which I mean that the reality is an explosive expansion beyond current human ideas and models. Nonetheless, we can speak of biocognition as fundamentally local to an organism as we do when we ‘diagnose’ properties or characteristics of an organism or its activity/functionality.

The real basis of biocognition on Earth and elsewhere is not however primarily a local matter, appearances aside. In essence, I argue that while structures for the expression of identity may be in some way heritable, identity itself is largely acquired through interaction. This means that the basis of identity is environment, and the expression while relatively static in some observable dimensions is fundamentally dynamic (and learning-sensing oriented).

The actual realities of biocognition on Earth are beyond the sum of our fictions and stories. Experiential access to these terrains is a part of the goal of Cognitive Activism.

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