Homeostasis and Rein Control: From Daisyworld to Active Perception

Abstract

Homeostasis refers to the ability of organisms to maintain vital properties, such as body temperature, within a zone of viability, or of comfort, and the Gaia Hypothesis proposes that the Earth with its biota acts as a homeostatic whole. The Daisyworld model was proposed as one possible mechanism for providing this homeostatic regulation. Here a new and much simplified version of this model is presented, demonstrating that the combination of any `Hat function with any feedback, positive or negative, can lead to homeostasis through `Rein Control. This principle is so general that it can be extended to other domains such as active perception, here demonstrated in a simulated robot.