{
  "abstract": "Information exchange can support living organisation without providing a sufficient criterion for life. We develop a perturbational framework that distinguishes causal transmission, directional imbalance, internal retention, response structure and functional regulation. Randomised interventions define Shannon information channels; for deterministic binary recipients, their context-conditioned mutual information is exactly a paired perturbation-response indicator. Spatial and temporal averages of these local channels measure information-exposure density, rather than joint information or conserved information flux. Complementary Coding Theorem Method and Block Decomposition Method (BDM) estimates describe response and trajectory structure. A same-shaped zero-mask reference separates raw BDM from a structural contrast; neither is a channel mutual information. Retained exploratory BDM plots are distinguished from the normalised causal-channel results. Retention-weighted coupling and directionality obey algebraic bounds, and ensemble reciprocity need not imply reciprocity within individual contexts. For a specified binary sensor--internal-channel--actuator task, we derive a positive information lower bound from successful regulation and construct controllers with identical information profiles but opposite functional outcomes. A study of 2,000 ordered elementary-cellular-automaton rule pairs, six detailed examples, recurrence and lossless coding analyses, and a signed-network extension demonstrates dissociations among perturbational responsiveness, structural regularity and recurrence. The results establish causal information as a necessary resource for the stated form of adaptive regulation, while showing why neither causal coupling nor response complexity alone measures agency or life.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": "2610.24017",
  "author_total": 3,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Brian LuValle"
    },
    {
      "name": "Abicumaran Uthamacumaran"
    },
    {
      "name": "Hector Zenil"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/4zq4vkwmzvtg8.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.48550/arxiv.2610.24017",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "4zq4vkwmzvtg8",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.24017",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": "CC0-1.0",
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "arxiv",
      "cs.IT"
    ],
    [
      "arxiv",
      "math.IT"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "3109|Complex Systems and Dynamics"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7223045663",
  "pdf_url": "https://arxiv.org/pdf/2610.24017",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-10-16",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/4zq4vkwmzvtg8.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:30:57Z",
      "native_id": "2610.24017",
      "source": "arxiv",
      "url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.24017"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "physics",
      "origin": "openalex:3109|Complex Systems and Dynamics",
      "subfield": "statistical-nonlinear"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Causal Information Exchange as a Necessary Condition for Adaptive Regulation: A Perturbational Framework for Life and Agency",
  "title_text": "Causal Information Exchange as a Necessary Condition for Adaptive Regulation: A Perturbational Framework for Life and Agency",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:33:44Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/4zq4vkwmzvtg8",
  "venue": "arXiv",
  "versions": []
}