Extended Plastic Inevitable

Ramstead, Maxwell J. D.; Friston, Karl J.

Volume 17 · Number 3 · Pages 238–240

< Previous Paper · Next Paper >

Extended Plastic Inevitable

Maxwell J. D. Ramstead & Karl J. Friston

Abstract

Open peer commentary on the article “A Moving Boundary, a Plastic Core: A Contribution to the Third Wave of Extended-Mind Research” by Timotej Prosen. Abstract: We argue that the free-energy principle (FEP) can indeed be used to articulate a conception of the boundaries of cognitive systems that meets the desiderata of third-wave extended-mind research. We point out that Markov blankets under the FEP definitionally constitute the means through which internal and external states are coupled, and so do not isolate systems from their environment. We argue that the nested, multiscale boundaries of the FEP formulation are indeed plastic and open to re-negotiation. Finally, we appeal to the formulation of niche construction under the FEP to argue that the extension of cognitive boundaries in this formulation is both synchronic and diachronic.

Citation

Ramstead M. J. D. & Friston K. J. (2022) Extended plastic inevitable. Constructivist Foundations 17(3): 238–240. https://constructivist.info/17/3/238

Export article citation data: Plain Text · BibTex · EndNote · Reference Manager (RIS)

References

Bruineberg J., Rietveld E., Parr T., van Maanen L. & Friston K. J. (2018) Free-energy minimization in joint agent-environment systems: A niche construction perspective. Journal of Theoretical Biology 455: 161–178. ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar

Clark A. (2015) Surfing uncertainty: Prediction, action, and the embodied mind. Oxford University Press, Oxford. ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar

Constant A., Ramstead M. J., Veissière S. P., Campbell J. & Friston K. J. (2018) A variational approach to niche construction. Journal of the Royal Society Interface 15(141): 20170685. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2017.0685

Di Paolo E. & De Jaegher H. (2017) Neither individualistic nor interactionist. In: Durt C., Fuchs T. & Tewes C. (eds.) Embodiment, enaction, and culture. MIT Press, Cambridge MA: 87–105. https://cepa.info/2301

Di Paolo E. (2009) Extended life. Topoi 28(1): 9–21. https://cepa.info/322

England J. L. (2015) Dissipative adaptation in driven self-assembly. Nature Nanotechnology 10(11): 919–923. ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar

Friston K. J. (2020) A free energy principle for a particular physics. arXiv preprint arXiv:1906.10184. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.1906.10184

Friston K. J., Fagerholm E. D., Zarghami T. S., Parr T., Hipólito I., Magrou L. & Razi A. (2021) Parcels and particles: Markov blankets in the brain. Network Neuroscience 5(1): 211–251. ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar

Friston K. J., Levin M., Sengupta B. & Pezzulo G. (2015) Knowing one’s place: A free-energy approach to pattern regulation. Journal of the Royal Society Interface 12(105): 20141383. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2014.1383

Hohwy J. (2014) The predictive mind. Oxford University Press, Oxford. ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar

Kirchhoff M. & Kiverstein J. (2019) Extended consciousness and predictive processing: A third-wave view. Routledge, New York. ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar

Kirchhoff M. D. (2012) Extended cognition and fixed properties: Steps to a third-wave version of extended cognition. Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences 11(2): 287–308. ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar

Kuchling F., Friston K. J., Georgiev G. & Levin M. (2020) Morphogenesis as Bayesian inference: A variational approach to pattern formation and control in complex biological systems. Physics of Life Reviews 33: 88–108. ▸︎ Google︎ Scholar

Levin M. (2019) The computational boundary of a “self”: Developmental bioelectricity drives multicellularity and scale-free cognition. Frontiers in Psychology 10: 2688. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02688

Palacios E. R., Razi A., Parr T., Kirchhoff M. & Friston K. J. (2020) On Markov blankets and hierarchical self-organisation. Journal of Theoretical Biology 486: 110089. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtbi.2019.110089

Ramstead M. J., Constant A., Badcock P. B. & Friston K. J. (2019) Variational ecology and the physics of sentient systems. Physics of Life Reviews 31: 188–205. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.plrev.2018.12.002

Ramstead M. J., Hesp C., Tschantz A., Smith R., Constant A. & Friston K. J. (2021) Neural and phenotypic representation under the free-energy principle. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews 120: 109–122. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2020.11.024

Ramstead M. J., Kirchhoff M. D. & Friston K. J. (2020) A tale of two densities: Active inference is enactive inference. Adaptive Behavior 28(4): 225–239. https://cepa.info/6101

Ramstead M. J., Kirchhoff M. D., Constant A. & Friston K. J. (2021) Multiscale integration: Beyond internalism and externalism. Synthese 198(S1): 41–70. https://cepa.info/7834

Sakthivadivel D. A. (2022) Towards a geometry and analysis for Bayesian mechanics. arXiv preprint arXiv:2204.11900. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2204.11900

Comments: 0

To stay informed about comments to this publication and post comments yourself, please log in first.

LATEST ISSUES

FOLLOW US

Abstract

Citation

References

Comments: 0