Allostatic Kinds

Description

One of the most fundamental influences on biological systems is the differentiation of a system’s external and internal associations, and the interfacing, permeability, and situating of phenomena in regard to these boundaries. This project investigates the continuous balancing of internal regulatory structural integrity, processing endogenous information and survival-driven needs, and interpreting information or environmental contexts external to the system.

Allostatic regulatory processes influence and shape boundaries of basic units that form coherent human meaning and internal narration. These processes can be understood as permutations of the subjectivity, objectivity, or intersubjectivity of a given relation, and shape the direction of causality in interactions involving an agent and its environment.

Bridging from Heylighen’s evolutionary-cybernetic epistemology, the project introduces a taxonomy of allostatic types across varying arenas of activity and explores agent-based models to demonstrate allostatic types in multi-agent settings.