The Markov blankets of life: autonomy, active inference and the free energy principle
Journal of the Royal Society Interface 15 (138) (2018)
Abstract
This work addresses the autonomous organization of biological systems. It does so by considering the boundaries of biological systems, from individual cells to Home sapiens, in terms of the presence of Markov blankets under the active inference scheme—a corollary of the free energy principle. A Markov blanket defines the boundaries of a system in a statistical sense. Here we consider how a collective of Markov blankets can self-assemble into a global system that itself has a Markov blanket; thereby providing an illustration of how autonomous systems can be understood as having layers of nested and self-sustaining boundaries. This allows us to show that: (i) any living system is a Markov blanketed system and (ii) the boundaries of such systems need not be co-extensive with the biophysical boundaries of a living organism. In other words, autonomous systems are hierarchically composed of Markov blankets of Markov blankets—all the way down to individual cells, all the way up to you and me, and all the way out to include elements of the local environment.Author's Profile
My notes
Similar books and articles
Causal Markov, robustness and the quantum correlations.Mauricio Suárez & Iñaki San Pedro - 2010 - In Mauricio Suarez (ed.), Causes, Probabilities and Propensities in Physics. Springer. pp. 173–193.
The anticipating brain is not a scientist: the free-energy principle from an ecological-enactive perspective.Jelle Bruineberg, Julian Kiverstein & Erik Rietveld - 2018 - Synthese 195 (6).
Indeterminism and the causal Markov condition.Daniel Steel - 2005 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 56 (1):3-26.
The Principle of the Common Cause, the Causal Markov Condition, and Quantum Mechanics: Comments on Cartwright.Iain Martel - 2008 - In Luc Bovens, Carl Hoefer & Stephan Hartmann (eds.), Nancy Cartwright’s Philosophy of Science. Routledge. pp. 242-262.
Continuous vs discrete processes: The probabilistic evolution of single trapped ions.Storrs McCall, Andrew Whitaker & Glyn George - 2000
A characterization of Markov qquivalence classes for directed acyclic graphs with latent variables.Jiji Zhang - unknown
Modularity and the causal Markov condition: A restatement.Daniel M. Hausman & James Woodward - 2004 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 55 (1):147-161.
Application of a Markov model to free recall and recognition.Walter Kintsch & Charles J. Morris - 1965 - Journal of Experimental Psychology 69 (2):200.
Epr Robustness and the Causal Markov Condition.Mauricio Suárez & Iñaki San Pedro - 2007 - Centre of Philosophy of Natural and Social Science.
Analytics
Added to PP
2018-06-03
Downloads
303 (#39,449)
6 months
47 (#28,447)
2018-06-03
Downloads
303 (#39,449)
6 months
47 (#28,447)
Historical graph of downloads
Author's Profile
Citations of this work
First principles in the life sciences: the free-energy principle, organicism, and mechanism.Matteo Colombo & Cory Wright - 2021 - Synthese 198 (14):3463–3488.
The math is not the territory: navigating the free energy principle.Mel Andrews - 2021 - Biology and Philosophy 36 (3):1-19.
Multiscale integration: beyond internalism and externalism.Maxwell J. D. Ramstead, Michael D. Kirchhoff, Axel Constant & Karl J. Friston - 2019 - Synthese 198 (Suppl 1):41-70.
Self-supervision, normativity and the free energy principle.Jakob Hohwy - 2020 - Synthese 199 (1-2):29-53.
From allostatic agents to counterfactual cognisers: active inference, biological regulation, and the origins of cognition.Andrew W. Corcoran, Giovanni Pezzulo & Jakob Hohwy - 2020 - Biology and Philosophy 35 (3):1-45.
References found in this work
The Embodied Mind: Cognitive Science and Human Experience.Francisco J. Varela, Evan Thompson & Eleanor Rosch - 1991 - MIT Press.
Mind in Life: Biology, Phenomenology, and the Sciences of Mind.Evan Thompson - 2007 - Harvard University Press.
Supersizing the Mind: Embodiment, Action, and Cognitive Extension.Andy Clark (ed.) - 2008 - Oxford University Press.
Probabilistic Reasoning in Intelligent Systems: Networks of Plausible Inference.Judea Pearl - 1988 - Morgan Kaufmann.