What is the free energy principle? How do our brains use active inference to manage uncertainty and stress?
On this episode, we talk with Karl Friston, world-renowned neuroscientist at University College London, about his free energy principle. In order for the human brain or any other self-evidencing system (be it Earthly or alien) to exist, they must be able to make inferences about their environments, and adjust their internal models of the world to resist entropy. In the show, we discuss how Karl’s previous work as a psychiatrist led him to this theory, then take a deep dive into the free energy principle, discussing how it can help us understand stress, agency, DNA, and the possibility of life elsewhere in the universe.
Cover art: Keating Shahmehri
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/bigbiology/supportBig Biology Year End Wrap-Up
Food for thought: Plant domestication and the promise of green super rice (Ep 74)
A gene’s-eye view: Useful tool or narrow lens? (Ep 73)
Stability and change: Lessons from the Serengeti (Ep 72)
Please don't kill the bats! (Ep 5 Re-release)
A tattoo on the brain: The neurobiology of Alzheimer's disease (Ep 71)
Butterfl-eyes: The evolution and function of insect vision (Ep 69)
Performance anxiety: How coastal invertebrates cope with changing climate extremes (Ep 68)
Season 4 Preview (and more)
Foiling the flashy: How artificial light dims insect behavior (Ep 67)
Old vaccines for new pandemics (Ep 66)
Mouse on a hill: The structure and function of agency (Ep 65)
The stall protocol: Diapause in the annual killifish (Ep 64)
Survival of the systems: The power of persistence (Ep 63)
Situated Darwinism: Organism-centered evolution (Ep 62)
Decoding CRISPR: Jennifer Doudna and the future of gene editing (Ep 61)
Human-assisted evolution: Conserving coral diversity (Ep 60)
Feel the burn: The limits of human energy expenditure and endurance (Ep 59)
Finding our voice: The neurobiology of vocal learning (Ep 58)
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