Synchronisation and self-organisation under the free energy principle

Abstract:

We will trace through the logic of (a particular form of) Friston’s free energy principle and show how one arrives at the statement “interacting random processes with non-equilibrium steady state densities look as if they minimise variational free energy.” We will then explore how the FEP can be related to the physics of non-equilibrium systems by considering the connection between variational free energy minimisation and the maintenance of certain fluxes of energy in and out of a system. Some discussion of what a representation means in this context will follow. We will propose a minimalist account of representation as synchronisation in coupled random dynamical systems.

The content was very similar to a previous talk at Stony Brook’s Laufer Centre. Many thanks to Moritz Kriegleder for inviting me.