Viral thresholds and semiotic resonance: Rethinking the continuum between life and non-life

Abstract

This article interrogates the ontological status of the virus, an entity that lacks cellular autonomy yet exhibits core evolutionary dynamics, to expose the limitations of classical definitions of life. The analysis moves beyond this classificatory impasse by integrating the paradigm of reticulate evolution, which repositions viruses as central agents in life's network history, with a materialist biosemiotics. This synthesis supports the paper's central thesis: that life is not an intrinsic property but an emergent condition defined by semiotic processes. To formalize this, we introduce the concept of semiotic resonance, a theoretical model defining life as the emergence of recursive interpretive coupling between material systems. This mechanism provides a physical and semiotic basis for biological organization, bridging the arbitrariness of codes with their material enactment. Ultimately, by reframing the virus as a paradigmatic case of resonance-dependent existence, this work proposes a shift in the study of life itself: away from classifying entities and toward an analysis of the relational thresholds where matter, meaning, and evolution converge.