William T. Powers

This article is about William T. Powers. For the president of The University of Texas at Austin, see William C. Powers. For the manufacturer, see William T. Powers (Michigan).

William T. Powers (born August 29, 1926) is an independent scientist (that is, without institutional affiliation) who has developed perceptual control theory, which finds that the behavior of living things is not controlled by them, but rather is their means of controlling their inputs (perceptions). It differs from engineering control theory in that the reference variable for each control loop in a control hierarchy is set from within the system, rather than by a separate controller external to the system. He and colleagues in diverse fields have developed many demonstrations of negative feedback control and computer models or simulations that replicate observed and measured behavior of living systems (human and animal, individuals and groups of individuals) with a very high degree of fidelity (0.95 or better).

Selected Bibliography

• Powers, William T. (1973). Behavior: The control of perception. Chicago: Aldine de Gruyter. ISBN 0-202-25113-6. 2nd ed. (2005) New Canaan: Benchmark Publications. Chinese tr. (2004) Guongdong Higher Learning Education Press, Guangzhou, China. ISBN 7-5361-2996-3.
• Powers, William T. (1989). Living control systems. [Selected papers 1960-1988.] New Canaan, CT: Benchmark Publications. ISBN 0-9647121-3-X.
• Powers, William T. (1992). Living control systems II. [Selected papers 1959-1990.] New Canaan, CT: Benchmark Publications.
• Powers, William T. (1998). Making sense of behavior: The meaning of control. New Canaan, CT: Benchmark Publications. ISBN 0964712156
• Powers, William T. (2008). Living Control Systems III: The fact of control. [Mathematical appendix by Dr. Richard Kennaway. Includes computer programs for the reader to demonstrate and experimentally test the theory.] New Canaan, CT: Benchmark Publications. ISBN 978-0-9647121-8-8.

External links

• The Control Systems Group