Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34441179›Full record

ArticleEntropy (Basel, Switzerland)2021

Goal Directedness, Chemical Organizations, and Cybernetic Mechanisms.

Evo Busseniers, Tomas Veloz, Francis Heylighen

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Entropy (Basel, Switzerland), 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
9citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

9 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Article
  5. Article
  6. Review
  7. Complexity and Evolution.Entropy (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023
    Article
  8. Article
  9. Goals as Emergent Autopoietic Processes.Frontiers in bioengineering and biotechnology · 2021
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Evo BusseniersCentre Leo Apostel for Interdisciplinary Studies, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, B-1160 Brussels, Belgium.
Tomas VelozCentre Leo Apostel for Interdisciplinary Studies, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, B-1160 Brussels, Belgium.ORCID 0000-0003-3014-8340
Francis HeylighenCentre Leo Apostel for Interdisciplinary Studies, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, B-1160 Brussels, Belgium.

Funding

John Templeton Foundation 61733
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

In this article, we attempt at developing a scenario for the self-organization of goal-directed systems out of networks of (chemical) reactions. Related scenarios have been proposed to explain the origin of life starting from autocatalytic sets, but these sets tend to be too unstable and dependent on their environment to maintain. We apply instead a framework called Chemical Organization Theory (COT), which shows mathematically under which conditions reaction networks are able to form self-maintaining, autopoietic organizations. We introduce the concepts of perturbation, action, and goal based on an operationalization of the notion of change developed within COT. Next, we incorporate the latter with notions native to the theory of cybernetics aimed to explain goal directedness: reference levels and negative feedback among others. To test and refine these theoretical results, we present some examples that illustrate our approach. We finally discuss how this could result in a realistic, step-by-step scenario for the evolution of goal directedness, thus providing a theoretical solution to the age-old question of the origins of purpose.

Indexed as

chemical organization theorycybernetic mechanismsgoal-directedness

Identifiers

PMID34441179
PMCPMC8395005

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.