Closing the loop: how semantic closure enables open-ended evolution?
Journal of the Royal Society, Interface December 17, 2025 Amahury Jafet López-díaz, Carlos Gershenson 2 citations
Semantic closure—the self-referential mechanism by which symbols construct and interpret their own contexts—arises evolutionarily from simple reaction networks to self-constructing chemical systems with anticipatory capabilities. By extending relational biology models with temporal parameters, the work identifies self-reference as necessary for robust self-replication and open-ended evolution. A computational enactivist framework integrates autopoiesis, anticipation, and adaptation to address the problem of relevance realization, providing a theoretical basis for naturalizing agency and cognition.