Trukovich, J.: From Reaction to Reflection: A Recursive Framework for the Evolution and Structure of Intelligence

_Biosystems_ 256. 2025Understanding emerges not from isolated cognitive abilities but from recursive depth—the capacity for self- referential processing grounded in systems with authentic thermodynamic constraints. The Reaction to Reflection (R2R) model advances a unifying principle for intelligence, identifying four evolutionary transitions in recursive sophistication: reaction (chemical recursion), temporogenesis (anticipatory prediction), symbiogenesis (cooperative integration), and cognogene