Cyberaesthetics: aesthetics, symbols and control

The notions of concepts and emotions are mathematically described, and an "elementary" perception-cognition process is discussed inherently involving both aspects of the psyche. The mathematical nature of perception and cognition turn out to be very similar. The developed mathematical technique is practically useful for engineering designs and also corresponds to our intuition about our psyche. The paper establishes relationships between the developed mathematical techniques, classical semiotic concepts of sign and symbol, and more general notions of symbol in culture and psychology. An important and psychologically loaded notion of symbol refers to psychic processes connecting conscious and unconscious representations (concepts and archetypes). I analyze the elementary thinking process and discuss which aspects of this process are available to consciousness. This leads to a suggestion that the mathematical nature of the symbol process is similar to the perception-cognition process. Thus, thinking-process and symbol-process are same: a vortex of emotions, models-archetypes, and sensory data. This vortex brings forth into consciousness the previously unconscious contents of mind, which improve our understanding of the world.