Rojas, Rodolfo: Gradients as the First Symbol: Biological Time and the Origin of Meaning

Gradients — physical differences in concentration, charge, and temperature — are the first symbols of life. Before the cell, before the gene, before the neuron, the electrochemical gradient instantiates the minimal structure of signification: a difference in the world that constrains a system's response and orients it in time. This paper establishes that biological meaning does not begin with language, representation, or nervous systems. It begins with the gradient. Drawing on origin-of-life res