Of bubbles and foams: Umwelt counterpoints in symbiosis

Abstract

In recent years, our aim has been to expand the concept of ‘umwelt’ towards its evolutionary aspects. In this contribution, we argue that since the different lineages of life share their origins, they also share, at least to some extent, the (informational) norms and interpretative practices (deeply established rules in addition to memory and experience) that apply in their particular umwelten. If so, some “dialects” of such norms may be understandable to umwelten across different forms of life that inhabit the same space and time. Such “umwelt overlaps” then facilitate a mutual understanding of different life forms, leading to coordinated (negotiated) cohabitation. We highlight some of the ways in which such “vertical” and “horizontal” processes can lead to an evolutionary and/or ecological networking of umwelt “bubbles”. We believe that the original concept of ‘umwelt’ should be expanded so as to encompass all living beings and their evolutionary memory, experience, and present ecological settings. Our interpretation also leads to abandoning of the concept of an external “composer of symphony” and allows life forms to compose their being in the world according to their “inner contexts”, “players available”, and evaluation of external factors, mainly biospheric but also physical.