scholarly journals Recurrent, nonequilibrium systems and the Markov blanket assumption

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miguel Aguilera ◽  
Christopher Buckley
Keyword(s):  
Living Systems ◽  
Nonequilibrium Systems ◽  
Markov Blanket ◽  
Markov Blankets

Markov blankets –statistical independences between system and environment– have become popular to describe the boundaries of living systems under Bayesian views of cognition. The intuition behind Markov blanket originates from considering acyclic, atemporal networks. In contrast, living systems display recurrent interactions that generate pervasive couplings between system and environment, making Markov blankets highly unusual and restricted to particular cases.

scholarly journals Causal surgery under a Markov blanket

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Yon ◽  
Philip R. Corlett
Keyword(s):  
Markov Blanket ◽  
Markov Blankets

Bruineberg et al provide compelling clarity on the roles Markov blankets could (and perhaps should) play in the study of life and mind. However, here we draw attention to a further role blankets might play: as a hypothesis about cognition itself. People and other animals may use blanket-like representations to model the boundary between themselves and their worlds.

scholarly journals The Markov blankets of life: autonomy, active inference and the free energy principle

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (138) ◽  
pp. 20170792 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Kirchhoff ◽  
Thomas Parr ◽  
Ensor Palacios ◽  
Karl Friston ◽  
Julian Kiverstein
Keyword(s):  
Free Energy ◽  
Biological Systems ◽  
Autonomous Systems ◽  
Living Organism ◽  
Active Inference ◽  
Energy Principle ◽  
Free Energy Principle ◽  
Markov Blanket ◽  
Markov Blankets ◽  
The Way

This work addresses the autonomous organization of biological systems. It does so by considering the boundaries of biological systems, from individual cells to Home sapiens , in terms of the presence of Markov blankets under the active inference scheme—a corollary of the free energy principle. A Markov blanket defines the boundaries of a system in a statistical sense. Here we consider how a collective of Markov blankets can self-assemble into a global system that itself has a Markov blanket; thereby providing an illustration of how autonomous systems can be understood as having layers of nested and self-sustaining boundaries. This allows us to show that: (i) any living system is a Markov blanketed system and (ii) the boundaries of such systems need not be co-extensive with the biophysical boundaries of a living organism. In other words, autonomous systems are hierarchically composed of Markov blankets of Markov blankets—all the way down to individual cells, all the way up to you and me, and all the way out to include elements of the local environment.

scholarly journals Boundaries and borders gone! But life goes on

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathryn Nave
Keyword(s):  
Necessary Conditions ◽  
Living Systems ◽  
The World ◽  
Markov Blankets

Unlike machines, living systems are distinguished by the continual destruction and regeneration of their boundaries and other components. Stable Markov blankets may be a real feature of the world, or they may be merely a construction of particular models, but they are neither a feature of organisms nor of any model that can capture the necessary conditions of their existence.

Choosing a Markov blanket

2020 ◽  
Vol 43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Parr
Keyword(s):  
Markov Blanket ◽  
Target Article ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract This commentary focuses upon the relationship between two themes in the target article: the ways in which a Markov blanket may be defined and the role of precision and salience in mediating the interactions between what is internal and external to a system. These each rest upon the different perspectives we might take while “choosing” a Markov blanket.

Redox Reactions in Lipid Membranes as a Model for Primordial Energy-Conserving Systems

1997 ◽  
Vol 161 ◽  
pp. 437-442
Author(s):  
Salvatore Di Bernardo ◽  
Romana Fato ◽  
Giorgio Lenaz
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Evidence ◽  
Lipid Membranes ◽  
Energy Supply ◽  
Redox Reactions ◽  
Living Systems ◽  
Asymmetric Distribution ◽  
Conservation Of Energy ◽  
Asymmetrical Distribution ◽  
Energy Conserving ◽  
Living Organisms

AbstractOne of the peculiar aspects of living systems is the production and conservation of energy. This aspect is provided by specialized organelles, such as the mitochondria and chloroplasts, in developed living organisms. In primordial systems lacking specialized enzymatic complexes the energy supply was probably bound to the generation and maintenance of an asymmetric distribution of charged molecules in compartmentalized systems. On the basis of experimental evidence, we suggest that lipophilic quinones were involved in the generation of this asymmetrical distribution of charges through vectorial redox reactions across lipid membranes.

Prolonged Fixation Studies For Spaceflight

1973 ◽  
Vol 31 ◽  
pp. 332-333
Author(s):  
Robert Corbett ◽  
Delbert E. Philpott ◽  
Sam Black
Keyword(s):  
High Pressure ◽  
Living Systems ◽  
Prolonged Storage ◽  
Time Intervals ◽  
Early Signs ◽  
Large Numbers

Observation of subtle or early signs of change in spaceflight induced alterations on living systems require precise methods of sampling. In-flight analysis would be preferable but constraints of time, equipment, personnel and cost dictate the necessity for prolonged storage before retrieval. Because of this, various tissues have been stored in fixatives and combinations of fixatives and observed at various time intervals. High pressure and the effect of buffer alone have also been tried.Of the various tissues embedded, muscle, cartilage and liver, liver has been the most extensively studied because it contains large numbers of organelles common to all tissues (Fig. 1).

Positive health and living systems frameworks.

1990 ◽  
Vol 45 (8) ◽  
pp. 980-981 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald H. Ford
Keyword(s):  
Living Systems ◽  
Positive Health
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