Between pebbles and organisms: weaving autonomy into the Markov blanket

The free energy principle (FEP) is sometimes put forward as accounting for biological self-organization and cognition. It states that a system to maintain non-equilibrium steady-state with its environment it can be described minimising energy. said entirely scale-free, applying anything from particles organisms, interactive machines, spanning the abiotic biotic. Because FEP so general in application, one might wonder whether this framework capture specific biology. We take steps correct here. first explicate worry, taking pebbles examples of an system, then discuss what extent distinguish dynamics organism’s. articulate notion ‘autonomy precarious operational closure’ enactive literature, investigate how unpacked within FEP. This enables delineate between biotic; avoiding pebble worry keeps out touch living systems we encounter world.