Anticipation and dynamics: Rosen's anticipation in the perspective of time

This article may be used for research, teaching and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution , reselling , loan or sub-licensing, systematic supply or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. The publisher does not give any warranty express or implied or make any representation that the contents will be complete or accurate or up to date. The accuracy of any instructions, formulae and drug doses should be independently verified with primary sources. The publisher shall not be liable for any loss, actions, claims, proceedings, demand or costs or damages whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with or arising out of the use of this material. Anticipation relates to the perception of change. Therefore, dynamics is the context for defining anticipation processes. Since preoccupation with change is as old as science itself, anticipation-related questions go back to the first attempts to explain why and how things change. However, as a specific concept, anticipation insinuates itself in the language of science in the main focus of this article, an attempt is made to advance a perspective for the broad field of studies that developed around the notion of anticipation. Of particular interest are the circumstances of epistemological and gnoseological significance, leading to the articulation of the early hypotheses regarding anticipatory processes. Of no less interest to the scientific community are questions pertinent to complexity, adaptivity, purposiveness, time and computability as they relate to our understanding of anticipation. Introduction Those familiar with the history of science are aware of the fact that, in retrospect, some theories, new concepts and new methods seemed to have been so much ahead of their time that they were either ignored or declared unviable. A very telling example in this sense is Leibniz and his digital notation. Leibniz's attempt at a universal language deserves to be celebrated as the precursor of the computer age (Nadin 1982, 1996a, 1996b, 1996c). His vision of an ideal language (characteristica universalis) and his calculus racionator effectively anticipated computation as the foundation of what today is called the information society. De progressione dyadica, dated March 1679, is a text on binary representation. His letter of 2 January 1697 shows how, in the form of a memorial coin (Gedenkmünze), one can establish a record of accomplishments (those of his patron, the Herzog Rudolph August) using the very precise language of only two symbols: 0 …