precedevo

Precedevo is a neologism used in theoretical discussions of time, causality, and predictive processes to describe a hypothetical mechanism by which antecedent conditions influence future states through anticipatory adjustments within a system. The term blends Latin prae- “before” with a suffix echoing evolutionary or developmental processes and has appeared in scholarly discourse since the early 2010s in discussions of anticipatory systems, predictive coding, and adaptive control.

Conceptually, precedevo denotes a process where forecasts or priors about future conditions inform present configurations, decisions, or constraints, effectively allowing future expectations to shape the present. In practice, precedevo is used to analyze models in which agents or systems operate by incorporating anticipated future states into current behavior, such as in robotics, economics, or philosophy of time.

Critics warn that the notion can blur the line between genuine causation and normative expectations, and some argue that it overlaps with existing ideas of anticipation or predictive processing. As a term, precedevo remains largely theoretical and non-standard, with no formal consensus on definition or scope. Related concepts include anticipation, predictive coding, forward-looking control, and debates about time symmetry.