Presentation on Umwelt futurology given in the Biosemiotic Glade

Today I presented my paper "What can be known about future Umwelten?" in the Biosemiotic Glade (an informal, biweekly digital event held in the biosemiotic community), via Zoom. Some 14 people attended the 2-hour event, which included a half hour introduction by me followed by discussion.

"What can be known about future Umwelten?" published in issue; 2019 Cristin reporting finalized

My article "What can be known about future Umwelten?" has now been assigned to an issue of The American Journal of Semiotics. Specifically, it appears in no. 35 (3-4), the last, double issue of the 2019 volume. Full reference:

Tønnessen, Morten 2019. What can be known about future Umwelten? The American Journal of Semiotics 35(3-4): 401–429. Published online January 30th 2020. DOI: 10.5840/ajs202012359.

 Being included in my 2019 reporting to the Current Research Information System in Norway (Cristin), this means I have 3 articles qualifying for "publication points" - and altogether 2,6 publication poins for 2019.

Umwelt futurology article published online

My article "What can be known about future Umwelten?" was published online in The American journal of Semiotics today.

Reference (for now - it will appear in no. 3/4, 2019):

Tønnessen, Morten 2020. What can be known about future Umwelten? The American Journal of Semiotics. Published online January 30th 2020. DOI: 10.5840/ajs202012359

Half an article writing day yesterday

Yesterday, Thursday January 23rd, I had half an article writing day. Total for the Spring is now 6 writing days. I proof-read "What can be known about future Umwelten?", and read and reviewed the book contract for our book Semiotic agency: Science beyond mechanism.

Umwelt futurology article accepted for publication

I have been informed that my article "What can be known about future Umwelten?" has been accepted for publication in The American Journal of Semiotics, after a follow-up review of the revised version.

1,5 more writing days; revision of "What can be known about future Umwelten" finished

In the process of completing the revision of my article "What can be known about future Umwelten", submitted to The American Journal of Semiotics, I had half an article writing day on Monday (day before yesterday) and a full article writing day last evening. And complete the revised article I did, at 01.30 or so. This brings the total number of article writing days this autumn up to 30.

Autumn´s 28,5th article writing day

Today I had an article writing day, with some 6 hours devoted to work on revising "What can be known about future Umwelten?" I have made three more figures, namely "The minimal Umwelt generally", "Umwelt prediction" and "Umwelt scenarios" (the two latter improvements of earlier attempts, now that I am using Google Drawing), and added some 600 words to the text. 

This brings the number of article writing days this autumn up to 28,5.

Autumn´s 27th article writing day

Today I had this autumn´s 27th article writing day, with some 5 hours devoted to revision of "What can be known about future Umwelten?" I made two key figures (namely "Weak signals in relation to threatened and emerging Umwelten objects" and "Three-dimensional interactive semiotic model of environmental change"; where the latter incorporates the notions "Umwelt transition" and "Umwelt trajectory" within a larger whole) and wrote some 400 words.

Autumn 26th article writing day; 40.000 words written so far this year

Today I have had this autumn´s 26th article writing day, with some 5 hours devoted to revision work on my article "What can be known about future Umwelten?". I deleted ca. 1.100 more words than I wrote; reworked the disposition for the paper; drafted a list of planned figures; and searched for software for making academic graphics.

At 26 article writing days so far this autumn, the semester´s number of article writing days already by far surpasses that of the Spring semester (16 article writing days - I also had several application writing days). Next Spring even more article writing days is planned.

Year totals to date: 42 article writing days; ca. 40.000 words written in article/chapter format (ca. 14.361 words in Spring, 25.906 to date this Autumn).

Autumn´s 25th article writing day

Today I have had this autumn´s 25th article writing day, planning for the next semester´s writing day (see previous post) and working on the revision on my article "What can be known about future Umwelten". For the first time this autumn, the word count (written) was negative, since I deleted more than I added (additions were six new references). 

"What can be known about future Umwelten?" to be revised

I have received reviewer comments from The American Journal of Semiotics, with an invitation to revise and resubmit my paper "What can be known about future Umwelten?".

Autumn´s 19,5th article writing day - "What can be known about future Umwelten?" finished

Today I have had this autumn´s 19,5th article writing day, finishing my article "What can be known about future Umwelten?", which I have now submitted to The American journal of Semiotics. With 2.360 words written, this is the third most productive writing day so far this autumn by that measure.

Abstract: This article addresses Umwelt futurology, the study of future Umwelten, i.e. semiotic lifeworlds. Umwelt futurology as I describe it is an interdisciplinary enterprise founded on Umwelt theory but also drawing on work done in other academic studies of future developments. Asking what can be known about future Umwelten, I ascertain that our most solid knowledge about any Umwelt situated on Earth whether in the present, in the past or in the future, is derived from an understanding of what constitutes the minimal Umwelt in general and more specifically in Earthly terms. In the design, as it were, of organisms and their lifeworlds, it is not at all the case that anything goes. Knowledge about the basic features of the minimal Umwelt in effect provides us with the foundational building bricks that we need to construct an empirically informed Umwelt futurology. I argue that both predictions and scenarios concerning future lifeworlds can be developed from within this theoretical framework. While Umwelt predictions are meant to be of a merely factual nature, Umwelt scenarios may feature both factual and normative elements. In the case of the latter, factual predictions are – at least implicitly – complemented with assumptions regarding our preferences or desires with regard to future lifeworlds. While Umwelt predictions can give us more informed ideas about the future, Umwelt scenarios can help us make more informed choices whenever we discuss actions, lifestyles or policies that have an impact on future lifeworlds.

 

Keywords: futures studies, Umwelt theory, minimal Umwelt, Umwelt futurology, Umwelt prediction, Umwelt scenario

Autumn´s 18,5th article writing day

Today - and in part yesterday - I have had this autumn´s 18,5th article writing day, with some 1100 words added to my article "What can be known about future Umwelten?"

Autumn´s 17,5th article writing day

Today I had the autumn´s 17,5th article writing day, with some 5 hours devoted to proof-reading of my chapter "The true value of "doing well" economically"; editing and finish our Biosemiotics editorial on the work of Jesper Hoffmeyer, and writing a little bit on my article "What can be known about future Umwelten"?

Autumn´s 16,5th article writing day; 20.000 words written this autumn

Today I have had this autumn´s 16,5th article writing day, with some 6 and a half hours devoted to my article "What can be known about future Umwelten?" I wrote some 1000 words, which means this is the 7th writing day this autumn I have written in excess of 1000 words, and that the autumn´s total has passed 20.000 words (with October having passed September´s word count as of today).

Autumn´s 15,5th article writing day

Today I have had what amounts to this autumn´s 15,5th article writing day, with some 5 hours devoted to wok on our editorial on Jesper Hoffmeyer and my article "What can be known about future Umwelten?", and some 1000 words written.

Autumn´s 14,5th article writing day

Today I have had half an article writing day, with some 2 and a half hours devoted primarily to my article "What can be known about future Umwelten?", and some 600 words written. Accumulated number of writing days this autumn is up to 14,5.

Autumn´s 14th article writing day

Today I have had the autumn´s 14th article writing day, with some 5 hours devoted to my article "What can be known about future Umwelten", and some 1000 words written.

12,5th article writing day this autumn

Today I have had another article writing day, with some 5 hours devoted to my article "What can be known about future Umwelten?", which is now some 900 words longer than it was yesterday. Total number of article days so far this autumn is 12,5.

Autumn´s 11,5th article writing day

Today I have had half a writing day, with 2 and a half hour devoted devoted to my article "What can be known about future Umwelten?", and 4-500 words written. This brings the number of article writing days so far this autumn up to 11,5.