CONCEPT
Teleology and Teleonomy
Mayr drew a distinction directly relevant to the AI discourse. He differentiated between teleology proper — the attribution of purpose or direction to natural processes, which he rejected categorically — and teleonomy — the appearance of goal-directedness in systems that operate according to a program. A thermostat is teleonomic: it behaves as though it has a goal (maintaining a set temperature) because it was designed with a feedback mechanism that adjusts behavior in response to deviation. The thermostat does not have a purpose. It has a program. The program produces behavior that mimics purposiveness without being purposive. The gap between mimicry and genuine purpose is not behavioral — it is about the ultimate cause of the behavior.
In The You On AI Field Guide
The distinction maps onto the AI discourse with uncomfortable precision. A large language model is teleonomic. It behaves as though it has a goal — producing helpful, contextually appropriate responses — because it was trained with a