---
slug: allostasis
name: Allostasis
one_liner: "Stability through change: a regulator that does not merely defend a fixed setpoint against deviation but proactively and predictively moves its own (multiple) setpoints ahead of anticipated demand, trading local constancy for whole-system viability — at the cost of accumulated wear (allostatic load)."
type: prime
schema_version: 2
status: density_v2_draft
categories: [structural, biological, systems]
origin_domain: physiology
alternate_origin_domains: [control_theory, operations_management, organizational_theory, complex_systems]
aliases: [stability_through_change, predictive_regulation, anticipatory_regulation, variable_setpoint_regulation, allostatic_load]
related: []
solution_archetypes: []
review_flags:
- "OPERATOR-DERIVED (op-11 analogy completion) — obtained by completing the analogy `thermostat : single-variable regulation :: homeostasis : allostasis`, i.e. the term that stands to `homeostasis` as `homeostasis` stands to a bare thermostat: a regulator that moves its own setpoints predictively rather than defending a fixed one. The STRONGEST find of the op-11 full sweep (a genuine composite mapping — homeostasis + anticipation + variable setpoints — that no single axis-move on homeostasis produces). Discovered 2026-07-04. STRONG hold (verified absent from corpus; established scientific name — Sterling & Eyer 1988; Sterling 2012; allostatic load, McEwen). STATUS: HOLD pending owner keep/cut."
- "Created 2026-07-04; STUB ONLY (frontmatter + Core Idea + Notes). SI/SF/similarity are PROPOSER ESTIMATES pending triangulation. Body sections (Structural Signature onward) NOT written."
- "Phase-C action: re-similarity-check vs `homeostasis` (the reactive/fixed-setpoint counterpart) and `feedback` (allostasis adds feedforward/anticipation), plus any `adaptive_control`, `gain_control`, `predictive`/anticipation, and setpoint primes if present; confirm it is a genuine distinct regulatory pattern (predictive + variable-setpoint + multi-variable + allostatic-load cost) and not merely `homeostasis` restated or `feedback` with a longer horizon; draw a sibling/related edge homeostasis↔allostasis and note `allostatic_load` as a possible child/companion; write a v1 draft and sync the one_liner across v1/v2 per CLAUDE.md before merge."
substrate_independence:
  composite_substrate_independence: 4
  domain_breadth: 4
  structural_abstraction: 4
  transfer_evidence: 3
  reasoning: 'The bare structure — a regulator that anticipates demand and proactively moves its own (multiple) setpoints ahead of need, sacrificing local constancy for whole-system viability and incurring a wear cost from sustained or mis-predicted adjustment — is substrate-neutral. Its physiological origin (blood pressure, stress and circadian pre-adjustment) is one instance, but the anatomy travels cleanly: inventory systems that pre-position stock for forecast demand, budgets that shift their own targets in anticipation of a market change, power grids that pre-ramp generation for expected load, and organizations that move their own KPIs ahead of a shift. domain_breadth scores 4 (recurs across physiology, operations, control systems, and institutions — structurally-unlike siblings sharing the predictive-setpoint-shifting engine), just short of 5 because the sharpest, most independently-named instances still cluster in physiology and control. structural_abstraction is 4 because the core is a pure statement about the regulation architecture — feedforward + self-moved variable setpoints + multi-variable trade-off + load — with no biological substance required to state it. transfer_evidence is 3: the biological construct is canonical and well-named (Sterling & Eyer), the non-biological instances are structurally clear but less independently formalized under this label.'
similarity_to_nearest_existing_prime:
  slug: homeostasis
  similarity: 0.64
structural_framed:
  label: structural
  aggregate: 0.4
  criteria: {vocab_travels: 0.65, evaluative_weight: 0.35, institutional_origin: 0.25, human_practice_bound: 0.25, import_vs_recognize: 0.45}
  rationale: 'Reads structural-to-mixed. The core claim — a regulator that predictively moves its own setpoints for whole-system viability rather than defending a fixed one — is recognized rather than imported, and travels into inventory, budgeting, grid, and organizational regulation without carrying physiological vocabulary. The frame residue is light-to-moderate: the origin domain is physiology and the notion of "viability" and "load/wear" carries a mild evaluative/homeostatic cast (keeping evaluative_weight and import_vs_recognize off the floor), but the underlying structure — feedforward anticipation, self-moved variable setpoints, multi-variable trade-off, and an accumulated adjustment cost — is substrate-neutral. Comparable framing to its reactive counterpart `homeostasis`.'
phase_b_passes_completed: []
---
# Allostasis

## Core Idea

Allostasis is *stability through change*: a regulator that maintains whole-system viability not by holding a variable near a fixed setpoint but by *proactively moving its own setpoints ahead of anticipated demand*. Base-level `homeostasis` runs the classic loop — measure the deviation of a controlled variable from a fixed reference, then apply negative feedback to erase the error — and it is fundamentally *reactive, single-setpoint, and error-correcting*: the setpoint is a given, and the machinery's whole job is to defend it after a disturbance. Allostasis names the regulator that does the opposite thing on all three counts at once. It *anticipates* demand from forecasts and priors rather than waiting for current error; it treats its *setpoints as variable and negotiable*, moving them itself ahead of need; and it does so across *multiple parameters simultaneously*, sacrificing local constancy in any one variable for the viability of the whole system. It is the sophisticated sibling of homeostasis, not its opposite and not its genus.

The load-bearing anatomy is a set of distinctions the base engine does not name. First, *predictive versus reactive*: homeostasis corrects a deviation that has already happened; allostasis pre-adjusts on a forecast, using feedforward rather than pure feedback (the stress response ramps before the stressor, the circadian system pre-tilts physiology before waking, the grid pre-ramps before the load arrives). Second, *variable versus fixed setpoints*: the homeostatic setpoint is a fixed background constant to be defended; the allostatic setpoint is itself a controlled, moved variable — the regulator changes what it is aiming at. Third, *multi-variable whole-system trade-off*: homeostasis defends each variable near its own reference, whereas allostasis will deliberately let a local variable drift far from any "normal" value because doing so keeps the whole system viable under predicted demand. Fourth, and distinctively, allostasis carries an intrinsic *cost*: **allostatic load** — the cumulative wear from sustained adjustment or from setpoints that were moved on bad predictions. The base homeostatic loop has no vocabulary for any of these, because within it the setpoint is fixed, the correction is reactive, and the only "cost" is transient error.

Read structurally, the same predictive-setpoint-shifting shape appears wherever a regulator can move its own targets ahead of forecast demand, and the siblings are genuinely unlike. In *operations and inventory*, allostasis is the system that pre-positions stock for forecast demand and shifts its own reorder points seasonally, rather than merely replenishing to a fixed level after each drawdown. In *budgeting and finance*, it is the practice of moving one's own spending or reserve targets in anticipation of a coming market or revenue shift, trading a locally-tidy budget line for institutional viability. In *power systems*, it is the grid operator pre-ramping generation for expected load rather than only chasing frequency error after the fact. In *organizations*, it is moving one's own KPIs and thresholds ahead of an anticipated market change instead of defending last quarter's targets. Across these, the shared abstract engine is a regulator that *predictively moves its own multiple setpoints for whole-system viability, and pays an accumulating adjustment cost for doing so*; the physiological case is one species of the genus, and the structurally-unlike siblings show the genus is the bare predictive-regulation structure.

## Notes

**Provenance.** Produced by operator 11 (analogy completion), by completing the proportional analogy `thermostat : single-variable regulation :: homeostasis : allostasis` — the term that stands to `homeostasis` as `homeostasis` stands to a bare thermostat, i.e. a regulator that moves its own setpoints predictively rather than merely defending a fixed one against deviation. Surfaced in the op-11 full sweep on 2026-07-04 and flagged as the STRONGEST find of that sweep, because it is a genuine *composite* mapping — homeostasis + anticipation + variable setpoints + an intrinsic load cost — that no single axis-move on homeostasis (its dual, genus, meta, or temporal form) produces. Established scientific construct: Sterling & Eyer 1988 (the coinage of "allostasis"); Sterling 2012 ("Allostasis: a model of predictive regulation"); "stability through change"; and **allostatic load** (McEwen). Claimed siblings: forecast-driven inventory pre-positioning in operations, anticipatory target-shifting in budgeting/finance, pre-ramping in power grids, and anticipatory KPI/threshold movement in organizations. Verified absent from the corpus. Manifest: STRONG hold.

**For owner evaluation (keep/cut).** The case FOR is strong: allostasis is a *canonical, named scientific construct* (Sterling & Eyer), verified absent, with a clean and distinctive anatomy — predictive (feedforward) regulation, self-moved variable setpoints, multi-variable whole-system trade-offs, and an intrinsic wear cost (allostatic load) — and genuinely unlike siblings spanning physiology, operations, control systems, and institutions. It fills a real gap: the corpus has `homeostasis` and `feedback` but names neither predictive setpoint-*shifting* nor the allostatic-load cost, so it lacks a prime for "stability through proactively moving your own targets." The RISKS Kurt should weigh: (1) **proximity to `homeostasis`** — the discriminating claim is *predictive-vs-reactive* regulation over *variable-vs-fixed* setpoints; homeostasis defends a fixed setpoint after a disturbance, allostasis moves its own setpoints before one, so this is a real structural difference and not a rescaling of homeostasis. (2) **Overlap with `feedback`** — allostasis adds *feedforward/anticipation* on top of feedback; it is not feedback-with-a-longer-horizon but the addition of forecast-driven target movement, which the plain feedback prime does not carry. (3) **Risk of being read as physiology-specific** — the cross-domain instances (inventory, budgeting, grids, orgs) are the answer; the predictive-setpoint-shifting structure travels. (4) **Placement** — recommend a *sibling/related* edge `homeostasis` ↔ `allostasis` (the reactive/fixed-setpoint case beside the predictive/variable-setpoint case) rather than a subsumption; and consider **`allostatic_load`** as a child or companion node (the accumulated-wear cost). Sharp keep/cut question: *is "predictively moving your own setpoints" a distinct prime, or is it just `homeostasis` plus `feedback` over a longer horizon?* — the proposer's answer is that variable self-moved setpoints, feedforward anticipation, multi-variable trade-off, and allostatic load together form a composite the base primes do not name.

**At incorporation.** Re-run similarity against `homeostasis` (nearest existing prime, the reactive/fixed-setpoint counterpart) and `feedback` (allostasis adds feedforward/anticipation), plus `adaptive_control`, `gain_control`, any `predictive`/anticipation prime, and any setpoint concept, if present in the corpus, to confirm no collapse. If kept: draw a sibling/related edge `homeostasis` ↔ `allostasis` (reactive fixed-setpoint beside predictive variable-setpoint regulation), add a composition/feedforward note relating it to `feedback`, and consider a child/companion node `allostatic_load` for the accumulated adjustment cost. Add a missing-edge note flagging the `homeostasis` sibling contrast and the `feedback` feedforward relationship explicitly. Write a v1 draft and sync the one_liner across v1 and v2 per CLAUDE.md before merge.
