Selectivity can be understood as a causal property that determines variable degrees of response specificity. In minimal autonomous systems, given their recursive dynamics, these responses are directed, not towards an hypothetical representation of the environment, but towards its own future states. In this sense, although co-specified by environmental circumstances, system state transitions can be characterized as dynamically more or less driven by an intrinsic ‘steering force’ underpinned by the degree of freedom that the organized states can provide under the influence of different environmental circumstances. In this work we present the idea of (latent) agency as a proto-cognitive property already present in autonomous systems and that can be generally measured through information metrics. We test these ideas and formulations through toy-experiments in the Game of Life cellular automaton.