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/supportEp 24: Mental Smoke Detectors
Ep 23: Beauty of the Beasts
Season 2 Preview
Ep 22: Whale Aware
Ep 21: Replaying the MP3 of Life
Ep 20: Ask Us Anything
Ep 19: Microbial Garden of Eden
Ep 18: Bug in the system
Ep 17: 1000 ways to make a baby
Ep 16: Rules of Life
Ep 15: Climate change: should they stay or should they go?
Ep 14: Plasticity? Sounds fishy.
Ep 13: Unraveling Genetic Knots
Ep 12: Containing Cancer with Squirrel Ecology
Ep 11: The Vagina Research Institute (Full Conversation)
Ep 11: The Vagina Research Institute
Ep 10: Tangling the Tree of Life
Ep 9: Information, Aliens, and the Origin of Life (Full Conversation)
Ep 9: Information, Aliens, and the Origin of Life
Ep 8: Immune System: Make Love not War (Full Conversation)
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