  In goal-directed behavior, a large number of possible initial states end up
in the pursued goal. The accompanying information loss implies that
goal-oriented behavior is in one-to-one correspondence with an open subsystem
whose entropy decreases in time. Yet ultimately, the laws of physics are
reversible, so systems capable of yielding goal-directed behavior must transfer
the information about initial conditions to other degrees of freedom outside
the boundaries of the agent. To operate steadily, they must consume ordered
degrees of freedom provided as input, and be dispensed of disordered outputs
that act as wastes from the point of view of the aimed objective. Here I argue
that a physical system may or may not display goal-directed behavior depending
on what exactly is defined as the agent. The borders of the agent must be
carefully tailored so as to entail the appropriate information balance sheet.
In this game, observers play the role of tailors: They design agents by setting
the limits of the system of interest. Brain-guided subjects perform this
creative observation task naturally, implying that the observation of
goal-oriented behavior is a goal-oriented behavior in itself. Minds evolved to
cut out pieces of reality and endow them with intentionality, because ascribing
intentionality is an efficient way of modeling the world, and making
predictions. One most remarkable agent of whom we have indisputable evidence of
its goal-pursuing attitude is the self. Notably, this agent is simultaneously
the subject and the object of observation.
