Interspecies Cooperation

Biosemiotics postulates that signaling between organisms is a complex process that can often occur across multiple channels simultaneously. Olfactory pheromonal cues, aural vocalizations, and visual movements and patterns, for example, often all transmit important elements of the overall message intended or conveyed. It is also well known that some species' conspecific communications are " eavesdropped " by other species (such as primates reacting to birds suddenly taking flight as signaling a potential approaching mutual predator), even if the original signal was not directed at the inter-specific. Purposeful interspecific signaling is common, however, such as hares signaling their presence to foxes when they feel reasonably secure in order to avoid an energy consuming hunt, or plants using volatile organic compounds to signal that certain prey insects are feeding on the plant to other insects which feed on the prey insects and may free the plant from them. Intentional and unintentional symbiotic semiosis results from many generations of interaction between the involved species, creating grooves in the semiosphere where organisms' overlapping Umwelten open the possibility for ethical action. Due to the more constricted semiotic bandwidth interspecies communication touches upon, I postulate that interspecies semiosis is more scripted by generational meaning-inscription, and that such signaling is less improvisational than conspecific signaling. While western ethics traditionally esteems ethical events to the degree that they are voluntary, nonhuman interspecies ethics urges considering plural ethical frameworks, based upon species-specific and interspecific semiotic understandings. For many organisms, the fact that their signaling relies more on genetic than spontaneous dispositions does not necessarily indicate that instances of their convivial cohabitation are less valid ethically, however, than more flexible semiotic interactions.

Zusammenfassung. Die Biosemiotik postuliert, dass die Signalgebung zwischen Orga-nismen einen komplexen Prozess darstellt, der sich oft gleichzeitig auf vielfältigen Kanälen abspielt. So vermitteln beispielsweise olfaktorische pheromonische Hinweise, auditive Vokalisationen sowie visuelle Bewegungen und Muster allesamt wichtige Einzelele-mente einer beabsichtigten oder tatsächlich überbrachten Nachricht. Ebenso ist bekannt, dass die Kommunikation zwischen Artgenossen mancher Spezies von anderen Spezi-es " abgehört " wird (so reagieren etwa Primaten auf Vögel, die plötzlich auffliegen und damit das potentielle Annähern eines gemeinsamen Fressfeindes signalisieren), selbst wenn das ursprüngliche Signal nicht eigentlich an sie gerichtet war. Absichtsvolles inter-spezifisches Signalisieren ist ebenfalls verbreitet, so signalisieren etwa Hasen Füchsen ihre Anwesenheit, wenn sie sich sicher genug fühlen, um ihnen die Energieverschwendung einer unnützen Jagd zu ersparen. Durch die Absonderung flüchtiger organischer Verbindungen weisen Pflanzen auf einen Insektenbefall hin, wodurch andere Insektenarten herbeigerufen werden, die die Pflanze vom Befall befreien. Absichtliche und unab-sichtliche symbiotische Semiosen sind das Ergebnis von Interaktion zwischen beteilig-ten Spezies über viele Generationen hinweg, wodurch sich Spuren in der Semiosphäre bilden, in denen sich überschneidende Umwelten von Organismen die Möglichkeit für ethisches Handeln eröffnen. Aufgrund der eher eingeschränkten semiotischen Bandbrei-te, welche die Interspezies-Kommunikation berührt, postuliere ich, dass Interspezies-Semiose stärker von generationenübergreifenden Bedeutungsfestlegungen geprägt und weniger improvisiert ist als Signale unter Artgenossen. Während westliche Ethiken traditionellerweise die Wertschätzung ethischer Geschehnisse an den Grad ihrer Freiwilligkeit knüpfen, verlangt eine nicht-menschliche Interspezies-Ethik die Berücksichtigung pluraler ethischer Kontexte, die auf speziesspezifischen und interspezifischen semiotischen Konzepten beruhen. Dass die Signalgebung vieler Organismen überwiegend gene-tischen Ursprungs ist, heißt nicht zwangsläufig, dass ihrem Zusammenleben ein gerin-gerer ethischer Wert beizumessen ist, als sich aus flexibleren semiotischen Interaktionen ergeben würde.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the cognitive mind of the great ape.  This assessment will examine the multiple facets of ape cognition, what it consists of, and its many dimensions.  The current investigation seeks to demonstrate evidence of cognition and mind.  Recent primate literature will be reviewed with an interdisciplinary approach, taking into account research in anthropology, biology, ethology, primatology, and psychology.  The science of studying the faculty of apes will be highlighted, and examples that suggest cognitive processes will be provided.  Focusing on empirical evidence, the following cognitive abilities of great apes will be explored:  complex and meaningful use of language, deception, manipulation, imagination, and understanding.  Cognition and language are highly intertwined.  The inferior capacity of animals to use language may in fact be a consequence of cognitive and learning limitations.  After all, without the ability to think, there would be little need for language, because there would not be any ideas to communicate.  Therefore, the progression of ape research and ape language research must consider the evolution of the animal mind.  Examples will be used to illustrate evidence of thinking, problem solving, social interaction, and the use of social information.

This chapter ethnographically explores the relations between humans and elephants in logging operations in terms of interspecies labour, presenting elephants as collaborating participants rather than merely animate instruments. This involves examining labour in terms of cooperation rather than coordination, to avoid the merely instrumental consideration of articulated operations, and conduct rather than behaviour, to avoid simplistic Pavlovian interpretations of conditioned responses to environmental stimuli. The approach, informed by recent research on elephant sociality and cognition, allows for analysis in terms of interactive understanding. Revealing elephants as consciously intentional colleague capable of withdrawing their cooperation, this chapter also shows the partiality of accounts of animal labour as only involving alienation and exploitation. Furthermore, the worksite is revealed as a space of interspecies relations in which identities are co-produced, and which cannot simply be reduced to human domination.

What may displace Homo Deus as the main mover in evolution? A prime candidate is a hybrid lifeform of greater scope. A new genus of superorganisms, Deus Narrans, will have an opportunity to engage actual and virtual beings across species lines in quests to co-evolve shared values, rather than advance a single genetic and memetic lineage. The art, technology and science endeavors arising from such new transspecies connectives may surpass in influence those of species-bound rivals. Exponential technologies will propel this transition. For eons, material scarcities prompted zero-sum rivalries among and between hominids and other species to reproduce at the expense of one another. As plenitude and longevity grow, new forms of non-zero sum interchange will arise among sentient beings. Evolution in a post-scarcity era will differ  from earlier epochs by turning to the spread of lumenes – replicable qualities of spirit (patterns of emotional response) – across species lines. New communication technologies and pattern languages can speed this shift. Tools already are spreading to converse and share emotions among distantly-related animal and plant lifeforms. Genetic engineering and artificial intelligence soon will make Homo Sapiens the ancestor of myriad new cultures and species, many far surpassing our present capabilities. As a common ground for connecting sentient life forms, Deus Narrans can meet the need for spreading empathic resonances, understandings and collaboration among beings in ever-branchier species. The heart of such interactions may be a fractal system for co-creation in the realms of art, science, and technology. This paper maps how “social tetrahedrons” and “narrative fractals” can serve as interfaces through which sentient beings of all kinds can share experiences and create value at all scales in multiple realms. In the coming year, open source apps will begin testing such interfaces to bridge current cultural barriers in peer learning and online collaboration. If transcultural pilots succeed, they may set the stage for millions of humans – as well as individuals from new lifeforms to come – to explore, thrive, and co-evolve in relationships made possible by Deus Narrans.

This chapter ethnographically explores the relations between humans and elephants in logging operations in terms of interspecies labour, presenting elephants as collaborating participants rather than merely animate instruments. This involves examining labour in terms of cooperation rather than coordination, to avoid the merely instrumental consideration of articulated operations, and conduct rather than behaviour, to avoid simplistic Pavlovian interpretations of conditioned responses to environmental stimuli. The approach, informed by recent research on elephant sociality and cognition, allows for analysis in terms of interactive understanding. Revealing elephants as consciously intentional colleague capable of withdrawing their cooperation, this chapter also shows the partiality of accounts of animal labour as only involving alienation and exploitation. Furthermore, the worksite is revealed as a space of interspecies relations in which identities are co-produced, and which cannot simply be reduced to human domination.

Can a method for making materials and forms for fashion be developed that is contingent on relationships between local communities of humans and nonhumans—creating material and form between growing and making?

Climate scientists have identified the anthropogenic causes of climate change. The concomitant changes resulting from human action will likely usher us from the Holocene, which began roughly 11,000 years ago, into the Anthropocene. The ecological crises of the Anthropocene force fashion to reconsider its relationships with nature. Through an examination of community-based practices in Japanese papermaking, a framework can be developed for making and growing materials and forms that are contingent on relationships between local communities of humans and nonhumans. The Anthropocene calls for radical propositions for sustainable fashion design practices. In response, this study aims to develop a theoretical and conceptual framework for interspecies collaborative design in fashion. This dissertation found that two hierarchies underpin the unsustainable practices of the dominant fashion industry: the primacy of producer over consumer, and human over nature. Sustainable fashion research needs to address these hierarchies. This study showed that they are being destabilized by consumers who act as producers themselves and find ways to exert their agency over fashion’s supply chain through practices that value collaboration, openness, and transparency. Outlined in this dissertation are the theoretical and conceptual foundations for interspecies fashion design in the Anthropocene—a form of design that addresses the ecological negligence of the dominant fashion industry. The result is a framework for nascent fashion design practices that seek to bridge the biological, social, and technological in the Anthropocene. With von Busch (2013), this dissertation asks: How can we support the development of Do-it-Together community-based design methods, rather than Do-it-Yourself ones? And with Haraway (2007) it asks: Can these communities be extended to include nonhuman kin?

EdibleEcologies is series of social sculptures that work collaboratively with local communities (human, microbial, ecological) to resuscitate endangered food practices in an effort to remediate a cultural memory disorder that we call “industrial amnesia.”
More info: www.ecoarttech.net

Human action — agriculture, and industrialization, and globalization — has significantly impacted the systems of Earth. Understanding the extent of these changes has problematized the dualism behind dominant Western worldviews and raised the importance of adopting a more integrated and contingent view of human beings in the world. As definitions of nature change in light of anthropogenic climate change, human beings are coming to be seen as a fully-integrated part of the Earth’s systems. Researchers at the intersection of the humanities and natural sciences are re-orienting the relationship between the worlds of the human and the nonhuman. In this context, fashion designers may ask what kind of relationships fashion has with nonhuman worlds, and what kind of new relationships may be proposed as possible design-led solutions to the growing need for environmental sustainability.

This is an opportunity to negotiate new ways of designing with Earth, rather than of it. In other words, design methods are being developed which promote nurturing and forming, rather than extracting and processing as the paradigm for fashion design. This paper asks what design methodologies might be formulated in which the agency of the nonhuman is recognized. How can designers use the morphology or behaviour of nonhumans to design materials, objects or ways of living? This paper introduces concepts which could contribute towards a method for interspecies collaborative design that is relevant to fashion design.