Anticipatory Systems (Robert Rosen's version)

This is Robert Rosen's personal draft, from before 1978, where he develops his theory of anticipatory systems. This is a theory of systems that incorporate internal predictive models of themselves and their environments. The text highlights the unique properties of such anticipatory systems, contrasting closed-loop and open-loop systems, and posits that much biological behavior, as well as social and political activities, are fundamentally model-based. Rosen emphasizes the importance of understanding the characteristics of model-based behavior for the development of technologies aimed at controlling or modifying such systems. The novel approach taken in this work focuses on the global properties of model-based behavior, rather than tactical aspects of model synthesis and deployment. This perspective raises significant epistemological questions, particularly regarding causality, as it challenges the traditional axiom that present behavior should not depend on future states or inputs. The study of anticipatory systems, which do violate this axiom, is central to the discourse presented in this book.