Bac+Chat

On the connectivism [|ning], John has posted a fascinating link to a [|TED presentation] on the way bacteria chat to each other (hence bac chat).

Here is a copy of some of my responses:

Wow! John, this is stunning.

I love the squid as the stealth bomber of the seas.

And ... I am always looking for the big picture. I suppose in a way I am a closet connectivist - I am fascinated by the multi-layered connections and networks, from the biological level upwards, and if you combine that with an interest in applied linguistics, what you get are three interlinking, digital, "threshold domains":

1. The first (digital) material semiotic, where material acts not as material, but as an internal information/ semiotic: the four letters of DNA. 2. Bonnie Brassler's zoo-semiotics (courtesy of John's link) which jumps from an internal material semiotic (DNA) to an external (intra-species) semiotic and simultaneously to an trans-species semiotic. 3. The transition from various mixed mode (analogue/ digital) semiotics, like speech, to the fully digital virtual informatics of the Internet.

Its a wonderful set of nested algorithms, and nested "metaphemes" (as in "memes"?) for connectivism, and for digital ecologies - and "digital" here encompasses the full spectrum from the quaternary digital of DNA to the binary digital of the virtual internet. Food for thought!.