The recognition and analysis of evolving patterns provides a unifying concept for studying and implementing intelligent information processing for open feedback control systems within the nuclear industry. Control is considered as influence of a large system to achieve the goals of the human (who might or might not be part of an open feedback loop) and is not limited to operation of a component within a nuclear power plant. The intelligent control system includes open logic and can automatically react to new data in an unprogrammed way. This application of evolving patterns integrates current research developments in human cognition and scientific semiotics with traditional feedback control. A preliminary implementation of such a system using existing computational techniques is postulated, and tools that are lacking at this time are identified. Proof-of-concept applications for the nuclear industry are referenced.