Applying the Free Energy Principle to Complex Adaptive Systems

Abstract

The free energy principle (FEP) is a formulation of the adaptive, belief-driven behaviour of self-organizing systems that gained prominence in the early 2000s as a unified model of the brain [...]

Complexity Theory in Biology and Technology: Broken Symmetries and Emergence

“…By highlighting common features of substantially different problems, as early as the end of the 1970s, people were reflecting on how to deal in a unified way with problems deriving from physics, chemistry, biology, computer science, psychology, linguistics, sociology, and economics. Particularly studied are complex adaptive systems [10,11] , which include living beings.…”

“…• Continually adapt to the environment in which they operate so that they can meet the challenges it represents, thus they must be Complex Adaptive Systems [3,10,11]; • This occurs through evolutionary processes, whereby characteristics of a class of entities are determined by adaptive processes, as in the case of Darwinian evolution in biology [54,59] and in technological evolution [88]. In each case, branching dynamics takes place via selection of best outcomes from a set of alternatives; • This adaptation takes place consistently at every emergent level simultaneously; it has to do so in order that system functionality is maintained all the time [23]; • It also occurs through developmental processes [50,86], whereby individual entities come into being and then continually adapt to the environment on an ongoing basis.…”

Complexity Theory in Biology and Technology: Broken Symmetries and Emergence

“…• Continually adapt to the environment in which they operate so that they can meet the challenges it represents, thus they must be Complex Adaptive Systems [13,93,193]. • This occurs through evolutionary processes whereby characteristics of a class of entities are determined by adaptive processes, as in the case of Darwinian evolution in biology [44,76] and in technological evolution [7].…”

“…By highlighting common features of substantially different problems, as early as the end of the 1970s people were reflecting on how to deal in a unified way with problems deriving from physics, chemistry, biology, computer science, psychology, linguistics, sociology, and economics. Particularly studied are complex adaptive systems [13,93], which include living beings.…”