ArticlePhilosophical transactions. Series A, Mathematical, physical, and engineering sciences2020
Markov blankets, information geometry and stochastic thermodynamics.
Article in Philosophical transactions. Series A, Mathematical, physical, and engineering sciences, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 48 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
48 citing papers in PubMed.
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- Active Inference and Functional Parametrisation: Differential Flatness and Smooth Random Realisation.Entropy (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- From self-organizing systems to subjective temporal extension.Neuroscience of consciousness · 2026Article
- Sleep bruxism: a novel theoretical perspective through the lens of the free energy principle (FEP).Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience · 2026Article
- Gradient-Free De Novo Learning.Entropy (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Thoughtseeds: A Hierarchical and Agentic Framework for Investigating Thought Dynamics in Meditative States.Entropy (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Article
- Landau model for illustrating the learning and unlearning process of nociplastic pain.Frontiers in pain research (Lausanne, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Federated inference and belief sharing.Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews · 2024Review
- A Variational Synthesis of Evolutionary and Developmental Dynamics.Entropy (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- On Bayesian mechanics: a physics of and by beliefs.Interface focus · 2023Article
- Free energy and inference in living systems.Interface focus · 2023Article
- Simultaneity of consciousness with physical reality: the key that unlocks the mind-matter problem.Frontiers in psychology · 2023Article
- Myth of objectivity and the origin of symbols.Frontiers in sociology · 2023Article
- Jarzyski's Equality and Crooks' Fluctuation Theorem for General Markov Chains with Application to Decision-Making Systems.Entropy (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- How particular is the physics of the free energy principle?Physics of life reviews · 2022Review
- Canonical neural networks perform active inference.Communications biology · 2022Article
- Osteopathic Care as (En)active Inference: A Theoretical Framework for Developing an Integrative Hypothesis in Osteopathy.Frontiers in psychology · 2022Article
- Obesity and Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Explained by the Free Energy Principle.Frontiers in psychology · 2022Review
- How Stress Can Change Our Deepest Preferences: Stress Habituation Explained Using the Free Energy Principle.Frontiers in psychology · 2022Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
Abstract
This paper considers the relationship between thermodynamics, information and inference. In particular, it explores the thermodynamic concomitants of belief updating, under a variational (free energy) principle for self-organization. In brief, any (weakly mixing) random dynamical system that possesses a Markov blanket-i.e. a separation of internal and external states-is equipped with an information geometry. This means that internal states parametrize a probability density over external states. Furthermore, at non-equilibrium steady-state, the flow of internal states can be construed as a gradient flow on a quantity known in statistics as Bayesian model evidence. In short, there is a natural Bayesian mechanics for any system that possesses a Markov blanket. Crucially, this means that there is an explicit link between the inference performed by internal states and their energetics-as characterized by their stochastic thermodynamics. This article is part of the theme issue 'Harmonizing energy-autonomous computing and intelligence'.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.