Mapping function and structure for an anticipatory system: what impact will it have and is it computationally feasible, today?

Abstract

The development of complex biological behaviors, such as anticipation, in a machine requires more than having a reduced instruction set and a fast computer, a thought contrary to that shared by many researchers today. What is needed are new perspectives and insights into what complex biological forms are and what attributes are shared and/or differentiated by them. Only then will we really understand the cognitive process that elicits 'intelligence and consciousness' and how it may be invoked, at some level, in machines. This will require moving away from the Newtonian concept of reductionism and time as an index, towards new concepts that invoke time as an arrow that breaks the symmetry evident in classical mechanics. This paper provides an overview of the current thinking on anticipatory systems and what impacts they could have in and on our society. It identifies concerns that would be generated by the employment of such systems and formalizes a construct by which an anticipatory system model could be developed using today's technology.