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The Codes of Life pp 247–263Cite as

The Immune Self Code: From Correspondence to Complexity

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Part of the book series: Biosemiotics ((BSEM,volume 1))

Codes are conventions of correspondence between realms. These conventions may be considered emergent products of complex microlevel interactions. In this chapter, I illustrate the complexity of coding by discussing the immune self. I argue that our evolving understanding of the immune self bears a striking resemblance to the way our understanding of signs evolved. According to the thesis presented in this chapter, the immune system is a meaning-making system and therefore a biosemiotic analysis of the immune self may shed new light on a variety of unsolved theoretical questions in immunology.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel

    Yair Neuman

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  1. Yair Neuman
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Ferrara, 44100, Ferrara, Italy

    Marcello Barbieri

  2. University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Jesper Hoffmeyer

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Neuman, Y. (2008). The Immune Self Code: From Correspondence to Complexity. In: Barbieri, M., Hoffmeyer, J. (eds) The Codes of Life. Biosemiotics, vol 1. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-6340-4_11

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