Here is a quote from the CTMU:
Ordinary feedback, describing the evolution of mechanical (and with somewhat less success,
biological) systems, is cyclical or recursive. The system and its components repeatedly call on
internal structures, routines and actuation mechanisms in order to acquire input, generate
corresponding internal information, internally communicate and process this information, and
evolve to appropriate states in light of input and programming. However, where the object is to
describe the evolution of a system from a state in which there is no information or programming
(information-processing syntax) at all, a new kind of feedback is required: telic feedback.
http://www.megafoundation.org/CTMU/Articles/Langan_CTMU_092902.pdf