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/supportGeorgia O'Keeffe and the Red Queen: Ecosystem services via coevolution (Ep 57)
Bee kind: The buzz on global insect declines (Ep 56)
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Turn down the lights: The ecological effects of bright nights (Ep 53)
Coronavirus III: Town Hall (Ep 52)
A Series of Fortunate Events: Chance and Contingency (Ep 51)
Big Blue: How whales evolved to become ocean titans (Ep 50)
The Vital Question: The Chemistry of Early Life (Ep 49)
An 8-legged Bite: The Evolution of Venom in Spiders and Beyond (Ep 48)
The Origin of Us: Human evolution (Ep 47)
Smarthropods: Cognition in Insects (Ep 46)
CROSSOVER: On Coronavirus, Crisis, and Creative Opportunity with David Krakauer (Complexity podcast from the Santa Fe Institute)
Season 3 Preview
RE-RUN: Tangling the Tree of Life
RE-RUN: Information, Aliens and the Origin of Life
Ep 45: Student Spotlight
Ep 44: The Science of Slime
Ep 43: Project ICARUS
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