No communication medium can consist solely of a series of generalized symbols, such as a list of signs. All those involved in the communication process are subject to common conditions and limits of selectivity on the basis of their physioorganic existence – in other words, on the basis of conditions of compatibility with other levels in the formation of the system. Since these conditions are the same for any participant, we can talk of symbiotic conditions and label whatever regulates the relationship between symbolic and symbiotic levels as symbiotic mechanisms. All communication media form symbiotic mechanisms – depending on the degree of differentiation, of generalization, and of specification of their code under varying conditions.

XREF: Luhmann's systems theory — symbiotic mechanisms connect with his notion of interpenetration between psychic and social systems.

Niklas Luhmann, Trust and Power, loc. 701