Cognition as a Control System — Cognitive Cybernetics Technical Monograph

This monograph establishes the foundational frame for Cognitive Cybernetics: cognition as a control system, not a content system. It separates cognition into two layers—Content (symbols, concepts, data, beliefs) and Control (initiation, navigation, evaluation, termination)—and demonstrates that cognitive failure often originates in the control layer, not the content layer. The work introduces key concepts: feedback regulation, stability without correctness, control failure without error signals, and substrate independence (human, machine, hybrid). It argues that understanding cognition requires analyzing the control structures that shape its motion, not just the content it produces. This framing is the foundation upon which Cognitive Cybernetics is built.