In APS, meaning is not a representation, symbol, or internal content. It is the organisation of differences that matter for a system’s viability.
A condition has meaning for a system when it differentially modulates its activity in ways that support or undermine its persistence. Meaning is therefore not assigned, interpreted, or encoded, but enacted through the system’s organisation.
Meaning arises from evaluation: it is how viability-oriented asymmetries are expressed in activity. Semiosis describes how environmental differences enter into this process, while cognition extends it across time.
Meaning in APS is not something a system has, but something it does: the enactment of viability-relevant difference in organised activity.