Autopoiesis, Free Energy, and Integrated Information

What this approach tries to solve

Autopoiesis, introduced by Maturana and Varela, describes living systems as self-producing and self-maintaining systems; later discussions connect it to operational closure and cognition. See the overview of Autopoiesis.

The Free Energy Principle uses Markov blankets to characterize distinguishable things and describes internal states as representing or inferring external states under a statistical and information-geometric framework. See Friston’s free energy principle for a particular physics.

Integrated Information Theory 4.0 attempts to account for properties of experience in physical and operational terms, using intrinsic cause-effect power as a criterion of existence and intrinsicality. See IIT 4.0.

What Panta Rhei shares

Panta Rhei shares interest in boundary, operational closure, organism-environment coupling, inference, intrinsic existence, and the bridge from life to mind.

The shared pressure is that life and mind cannot be handled as optional decorative topics after physics is done.

Where Panta Rhei differs

Panta Rhei does not begin with life, inference, or consciousness as primitives.

It treats life, mind, language, and theoryhood as necessary recovery targets because a theory of reality must include the conditions under which theories can exist inside reality.

Panta Rhei includes life, mind, and language not to broaden the theory rhetorically, but because theoryhood itself must be recovered from within reality.

Where to inspect next

• Recover Life for the life construction step.
• Reflective Structure for mind, language, meaning, and normativity.
• Life World Readout for life-facing interpretation.
• Metaphysics World Readout for reflective-structure consequences.
• Life Verification for the verification route.