Temporal thickness has, so far, been a story of the past: bindings that survive, sediment, and constrain. Yet thickness is not backward-looking alone. It is asymmetrical, shaping what can happen next.
The future does not arrive neutrally. It is pre-shaped by the system itself.
Anticipation as Pre-Structured Readiness
Anticipation is usually imagined as intention or foresight: a conscious act of prediction or planning. In temporally thick systems, anticipation exists independently of any subject.
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It emerges from the configuration of bindings and constraints.
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It is a pattern of readiness, determining which actualisations are easily accessible and which are blocked.
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It is semiotic: the system “prepares” for some possibilities while excluding others.
In this sense, anticipation is not thinking ahead. It is structural expectation.
Differential Futurity
Not all futures are equally available. Temporal thickness produces differential futurity:
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Some paths unfold readily because prior bindings align with them.
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Some paths require extraordinary effort, because the network of constraints resists them.
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Some possibilities are effectively closed, not by logic, but by the structure of persistence itself.
Differential futurity explains why systems — biological, social, institutional — are often predictable in what they allow and resistant in what they forbid, even without conscious agents.
Hope, Dread, and Planning as Semiotic Orientations
Emotions and behaviours often thought to reside in minds are, in temporally thick systems, semiotic orientations:
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Hope: easier actualisation pathways, system-aligned possibilities
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Dread: constrained or blocked pathways, requiring exceptional effort
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Planning: adjustments within the pre-structured field of possibilities
None of these require subjects. They are emergent properties of the system, reflecting the uneven availability of futures.
Implications
Anticipation shows that temporal thickness is not merely a property of the past. It also sculpts what is possible next.
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The system pre-shapes futures just as it preserves pasts.
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Temporal asymmetry is not moral, psychological, or causal — it is structural.
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Persistence of past bindings interacts with readiness for future bindings, producing landscapes of possibility that are uneven and asymmetric.
Where trauma was time stuck, anticipation is time pre-configured. Both illustrate that temporal thickness shapes the semiotic field across the temporal spectrum.
Preparing for the Series Conclusion
The final post in this series will synthesise these threads in Living After Closure. It will explore how semiotic systems continue after limits are reached, integrating persistence, sedimentation, and pre-structured futurity into a coherent understanding of temporal thickness in action.
Next: Living After Closure — Persistence Without Completion
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