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Book Synopsis
How the purposive behavior of living systems outstrips the constraints of the free energy principle.

Since 2005, Karl Friston’s proposal that the principle of free energy minimization underpins the purposive behavior of living agents has evolved through thousands of publications. This principle’s central move is to formalize the drive for self-preservation in terms of a single probabilistic imperative: to survive, a living system must consistently exhibit the same “most likely” pattern of activity over time. Despite the simplicity of this central claim, the free energy principle’s complexity and rate of development have previously made it difficult to identify and evaluate. In A Drive to Survive, Kathryn Nave offers an extended critical analysis of the strengths and limitations of Friston’s proposal.

Nave shows that the free energy principle’s capacity to account for the biological origins of purposiveness is undermi

A Drive to Survive

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    A Paperback by Kathryn Nave

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      Publisher: MIT Press
      Publication Date: Publication Date: 2/4/2025
      ISBN13: 9780262551328, 978-0262551328
      ISBN10: 0262551322
      Also in:
      Philosophy

      Description

      Book Synopsis
      How the purposive behavior of living systems outstrips the constraints of the free energy principle.

      Since 2005, Karl Friston’s proposal that the principle of free energy minimization underpins the purposive behavior of living agents has evolved through thousands of publications. This principle’s central move is to formalize the drive for self-preservation in terms of a single probabilistic imperative: to survive, a living system must consistently exhibit the same “most likely” pattern of activity over time. Despite the simplicity of this central claim, the free energy principle’s complexity and rate of development have previously made it difficult to identify and evaluate. In A Drive to Survive, Kathryn Nave offers an extended critical analysis of the strengths and limitations of Friston’s proposal.

      Nave shows that the free energy principle’s capacity to account for the biological origins of purposiveness is undermi

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