title: Does AIDS involve some collusion by the neuro-immune system because of positive learning of the disarmament strategy?
abstract: Korzybski's general semantics recommends considering living beings as organisms-as-a-whole in their environment. Our cognitive abilities, specific to the human species, have thus to be taken into account. In this framework we establish a semantic similarity between particular stressful events of the 20th century and AIDS in which the immune-deficiency-caused is semiotically seen as a biological state of disarmament of the organism. It then appears that: These observations suggest that AIDS could benefit from some collusion by the neuro-immune system because of positive learning of the semiotic concept of disarmament, thus making the terrain favorable to the germ in response to intense stress. The disease would then result from a conditioning process based on semiotics and involve some confusion at the level of the unconscious cognitive system between disarmament toward outside the body and disarmament toward inside the body. This hypothesis is discussed within a multidisciplinary perspective considering the specificities of our modern lifestyles, the cybernetic ability of signs to control metabolism and behavior, and the recent advances of epigenetics and cognition sciences. This hypothesis may explain the multiple cross-species transmissions of the immunodeficiency virus into humans during the 20th century. Further research is suggested for evaluating this hypothesis.
authors: Institut FEMTO-ST, Université de Franche-Comté, UMR CNRS 6174, 24 rue de l'Epitaphe, 25000 Besançon, France. patrick.sandoz@univ-fcomte.fr
authors: Patrick
authors: P
authors: Sandoz
mesh_terms: D000163:Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D007154:Immune System Diseases / Q000276:immunology*; D007113:Immunity, Innate / Q000276:immunology*; D018448:Models, Immunological; D015213:Neuroimmunomodulation / Q000276:immunology*; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000276:immunology*; D014857:Warfare