#predictive processing

[frank-olivier]

The Predictive Self: Insights from Active Inference and the Free Energy Principle

The concepts of Active Inference and the Free Energy Principle have emerged as pivotal frameworks in understanding the intricacies of agency, whether in biological systems or artificial intelligence. These theories, rooted in the intersection of neuroscience, philosophy, and AI, offer a profound lens through which to examine the fundamental nature of interaction between agents and their environments.

At its core, Active Inference posits that agents engage with their environment in a manner that minimizes surprise, thereby reducing entropy. This process is underpinned by the Free Energy Principle, which suggests that agents strive to optimize the fit between their internal models of the world and the external reality. This optimization is achieved by minimizing the free energy, a proxy for the difference between the agent's predictions and the actual sensory input. The Free Energy Principle thus provides a unifying framework for understanding perception, action, and learning across various scales and systems.

The discussion around Active Inference inevitably touches upon the concepts of agency and free will. By positioning agents as entities that resist entropy, the theory subtly aligns with compatibilist views, where free will is seen as compatible with determinism. This perspective challenges traditional dichotomies, encouraging a more nuanced understanding of agency that transcends the biological-artificial divide. Furthermore, the emphasis on minimizing surprise underscores the predictive nature of the mind, echoing theories that suggest our understanding of the world is fundamentally confabulatory and based on predictive models.

The distinction between observational systems, like ChatGPT, and truly interactive, adaptive systems based on Active Inference, raises crucial questions about machine understanding and human uniqueness. If human beliefs, motives, and desires are, to some extent, confabulatory, what does this imply for our understanding of consciousness and the development of artificial intelligence? The ethical implications are profound, highlighting the need for careful consideration in the creation of autonomous, adaptive AI systems that may increasingly mirror human-like agency.

The interdisciplinary nature of Active Inference suggests a wide array of applications. Clinically, it may inform new approaches to understanding and treating neurological or psychiatric conditions by focusing on the internal models and predictive processes underlying patient experiences. In the realm of AI and robotics, embracing Active Inference could lead to the development of more interactive, adaptive systems that learn and evolve in a more human-like manner.

Thomas Parr: Active Inference (Machine Learning Street Talk, May 2024)

Thursday, November 21, 2024

[caligvlasaqvarivm]

hal should become a real boy and also a rabbit (prototyped with the piece of the bunny in lil seb) and also a sylph of mind send tweet

[gingermintpepper]

Writing Apollo-as-a-young-deity is fun because sometimes it involves completely making shit up based on the loose outline of a story told through old poems, prayers and plays and other times it involves researching the totally legit and well documented ancient art of studying sheep livers to make sure your statesmen don't accidentally piss off Jupiter.

In completely unrelated news, if anyone has any recommendations for books about bird augury, that'd be wonderful.

[queen-of-hawkins-why-ler]

"The making of ST5 documentary" oh so you mean Finn, Noah, Winona, David, Charlie, Shawn Levy, and the Duffer brothers' commentary on Byler, how long they've known about it, how they used acting and direction to create the slowburn relationship, and the cultural impact they believe it will have

[fictionadventurer]

My pitch for a High School musical sequel

Sharpay's musical theater career never went anywhere, so now she lives vicariously through her daughter. She terrorizes the East High drama department because she demands her daughter get all the lead roles, and she comes in and micromanages everything, etc.

Sharpay Junior is our sympathetic main character who wants to escape from her mom's control. She likes musical theater, but she's beginning to think that, gasp, she might have other interests! (Shocking, I know).

Gabriella is the school's science teacher, and she serves as a kind of mentor for Little Sharpay, teaching her that it's okay to like music and still do other things.

Troy's the basketball coach, of course, continuing the family tradition of men who cling to their high school glory days.

Maybe Troy and Gabriella's son could be the romantic interest? Little Sharpay has a connection with him, but of course Sharpay doesn't want her daughter involved with the family that stole her lead roles out from under her, and she doesn't want this boy distracting her darling from her theatrical career.

Of course, the process of deciding not to be in the musical requires Little Sharpay to take part in several heartfelt and elaborately-choreographed school-wide musical numbers.

[worrywarwrites]

ohohohohohoho you know how I used the "it's all coming together" meme a while back? YEAH.

[coquelicoq]

if we assume that each of the three pillars comes exactly three times for a total of nine times, and we know that the 7th time it was the 40-year guardian, and if we assume that was her final visit and the last two visits will be split between the 30-year guardian and the 8-year guardian, we can calculate how long ago the miharu family made that deal: (40x3)+(30x2)+(8x2)=196 years. 196 years ago it was 1828, but i think this is supposed to be set in the 1980s or 90s, so call it the late 1700s. that's the kind of thing matoba as the head of the matoba clan has to concern himself with - deals with youkai made by people 200 years ago from families that don't even exist anymore. it's an interesting contrast to the thing he says to natsume at the end of this arc, about the 9th visit, which is 30 years away, being someone else's problem. he's embroiled in the past but doesn't even think he'll get to have a future.

[mikkeneko]

You know that old joke about "you don't have to run faster than the bear, you just have to run faster than the other guy"? Was just thinking about how that's not necessarily true.

Because it depends on why the bear is chasing you.

If the bear is chasing you because it's hunting for food (which seems unlikely, unless it's a polar bear?) then yes, it'll stop after the first target it pulls down, because there's no point in the bear continuing to expend energy once it's got what it wants.

But if the bear is chasing you for some other reason -- say, you pissed it off by threatening its babies, or its territory -- then it will not stop with the first guy. It will continue coming until all of the threats are fled or dead. In which case, you do in fact still need to be able to run faster than the bear.

Not to overthink a metaphor, but I feel like there's a lesson here in how picking the callous path isn't necessarily any more guaranteed of success than choosing to keep faith. Now you have a bear mauling you and you're a dick. Maybe you should have stuck around to help the other guy.

[mawklee]

when you think about it, reghabi's phrasing in 2x03 was very specific and we didn't get many details at all. "I can sew together a version of you that loves her with a version of you that can--" ?? that doesn't really sound like it means "all your memories are merged and severance is completely over." i feel like reghabi would have phrased it differently if that were the case.

ive also been thinking about how petey was apparently reintegrated for an entire work week before he disappeared. he was able to work in there fully integrated for more than like, an hour without raising any suspicion? he wasn't acting strange at all? the only thing mark s ever said about peteys behaviour before he disappeared was that he was coughing.

what if reintegration doesn't mean undoing severance, what if it just means copying files?? what if reghabi was going to say something like "i can sew together a version of you that loves her with a version of you that can remember your innie" ?? what if mark scout gets all of mark s's memories up until this point, thus allowing him to remember all the time he spent with ms casey, but he's still severed and mark s's experience is unchanged??? (<- desperate to cling to the belief that mark s is not going to disappear already)

[melonisopod]

Kinda spoilers but wow Shirahama really had the evil old man witch wear the Evil Witch Hat and have him look directly in the camera and go "Are you *offended* by this symbol for Evil Witches? Well it's not like I'm one of the Evil Witches, I just happen to be wearing this hat. I only wore it because I had to keep the blood out of my eyes when I exploded a man against his will with evil witchcraft,"

I've met that exact guy in real life about a thousand times and also seen that guy on TV a couple million times.

[kaurwreck]

y'all stop saying fyodor has never looked so sincerely angry before. he has.

I know this because, and this is not an exaggeration, the vast majority of my manga revisits are to enjoy his expressions of anger, disdain, and malcontent. i shit you not, several of my bsd meta posts wholly unrelated to fyodor were written because I happened to notice something else while flipping through to imbibe fedya's hissy fits. I don't reread the manga when I do this, just those scenes, unless something else catches my attention.

anyway, stop disrespecting my beloved pastime.

[piecesofchess]

"Pick any game NPC and make content about why you appreciate them, what you find useful or interesting about them, and how they can help players progress their Wizards or Pirates."

I realized I haven't made any pencil drawings for any of the objectives yet, so here's my first one!

Deacon is a special NPC to me because he is the very first Armada member you meet in the Tutorial, introducing you to who the game's enemies are and making it clear from the get-go that he and the rest of his cause are a threat to our Pirate. You encounter him a couple more times in the story and become pretty familiar with him.

Not to mention you have to escape his clutches to get to Skull Island. I love replying the tutorial each time I make a new pirate so I can get to see him again!

[queer-omens-in-the-archives]

Cipher (4/7)

Fourth instalment in our series of 7 Matt/Mello/Near drabbles written for @dnrarepairweek! :3 Prompt: secrets.

Matt loves Mello and misses Near.

Rarepair: Matt/Near Other tags: Matt/Mello, The Kira Case

[read on AO3 or below] [series on AO3]

Matt has slept in Mello’s bed for weeks. He likes it there, always has, with the smell of chocolate and conditioner and Mello’s skin. The only difference now is he’s also missing soft white curls.

Near will be fine! He’s not on his own; Mello was. He isn’t drawn to danger like metal filings to a magnet; Mello is.

Matt wishes he could send something, anything… a cipher on a postcard might do the trick? Near will figure it out, no matter how complex.

Mello stirs and Matt pulls him close, drowns his doubts in marred skin and blonde hair.

[hplonesomeart]

Hey!! So turns out a video I made between a certain “well beloved but highly sensitive/emotionally reactive T.V” and an “orange haired inkling-turned-human” has managed to sweep my YouTube channel and accumulate 100k VIEWS!! THAT’S A LOT OF PEOPLE ACTUALLY?? My most widely viewed video EVER to exist in this moment in time?? AAAAA?? Not even mentioning the various comments and staggering increase in subs! It’s so much more then what I expected or even prepared for—might even be the most impactful thing to happen for me this year <3

…aside from graduating high school + the social connections I’ve been fortunate to make lol

BUT THE POINT IS I’d been closely monitoring the YouTube growth through the entirety of October. It’s make me smile like a dork, gawk in astonishment, dance frantically in my room from the energy boosts, and grow courage to stop being so selective/self-conscious with what I wish to share with the world! It’s kept my ambitions going!

I needed to find some way to celebrate the occasion and express my thanks—because I can’t NOT acknowledge this milestone jksjskp. Typically I try to avoid getting tunnel visioned focusing on the metrics/numbers. Mr. Puzzles had already demonstrated how much those things can mess with the minds of creatives. Caring too much about chasing views or placing your artistic value in attention seeking gets damaging. But at same time…it’s hard to deny the sense of pride the 100k achievement has filled me with. I understand that reaching 100k views doesn’t immediately make me any “better” or “worse” then I was before. I’m still just me! It only helps me feel seen by others—and that’s all I really needed. To hear some nice words & receive reminders that my ideas are cared about. So thank you SMG4 fandom for that, seriously thank you.

Please accept this Mr. Puzzle drawing as a way of sharing the happiness around. He’s so entertaining. Love him for simply existing. So glad we can all collectively be super attached to him (and the rest of the SMG4 cast of course). Can’t wait to see more incredible artworks from the fandom :)

Just incase anyone is confused by my vague description over which “animated video” I’m referring to here—hopefully this photo will help clarify lol. It’s this one!! Sorry about not outright stating the title at the start, I got carried away with writing!!

I’ve been in an odd place mentally when thinking about it. Wondering to myself if any of the attention is deserved considering it’s not even fully colored and could be dismissed as “low effort” content (despite taking several days making it). It’s easy to get into a trap of comparing yourself to others and questioning how much of the videos success is based on your skills, sheer algorithm luck, or only because you used popular characters and catered to a specific fandom. And then judging yourself by looking at other peoples videos. I’ve seen several artists post higher quality works then my own but it somehow gets less views. So why did mine succeed when others (who should have gotten just as much attention if not more) didn’t? Sometimes you feel like you’ve unfairly robbed them of that chance to be seen. However I’ve realized that I can’t ever expect views to be consistent—and comparing is pointless. So why worry about it or feel inadequate? I mean it’s pretty common for funny cat videos to go viral, so who am I to question the system lol. “Popular” YouTube videos can range from a passion project which took 7+ artists…to a clip of Toad singing Chandelier or a nonsensical Vine sketch. Anything can happen when it’s the internet! And just-so-happened my video was chosen. I should stay glad about that and get rid of all the overanalyzing. So that’s what I’ve chosen to do :)

[shalom-iamcominghome]

What kind of questions are good to ask your rabbi during the first meeting? I know it's good to ask questions but I can't really think of any other than what will the process be like etc., and I want to plan ahead

I didn't ask too many questions during the first meeting, but my rabbi and I got to know each other as people. He talked a bit about his history as a rabbi, some things about his practices, and then I talked about what led me to judaism and a bit of how I've integrated judaism into my life at that point.

I do think the most important question you can ask at this time is for them to outline what their expectations would be of you if you both decide to go forward. So asking what coursework there might be (my rabbi mostly gives me optional readings because I'm already in a course), how they teach, what they most often teach, and perhaps even what steps they would encourage you to take while you're converting are all good questions.

I would stray away from political questions or complex questions only when you and your potential rabbi are first meeting. You will likely have many more meetings where you can address certain things! My rabbi and I have met about three or four times, and it's pretty recent that I talked about (am/eretz) yisrael with him and how many complex and deep feelings I have about it (very cathartic and comforting, I will say). Unless it's a make-or-break for you, you can probably delay those topics for the near future.

I honestly think the first meeting is more than just discussing "practical" topics like how you'll be converting and what the process is like and asking questions. It's also to get to know each other as people. Not every rabbi will fit into your conversion in a fruitful way - you're also seeing if the rabbi will be a good fit for your goals in judaism and how you want to exist as a jew in the future.

I don't want to say "have fun and be yourself," but I think you should try to do that in part! There will probably be many places where you'll want to ask questions, and I can't anticipate that. I personally didn't ask questions from my rabbi because I could tell we were a good match, and sometimes, it's like that! But don't be afraid of the rabbi - they're a person, they're not infallible, and so many rabbis absolutely love to talk to students! I am fully confident that you wouldn't be an exception to that

[nuzipilled]

So episode 7 huh!

YEAH. UH HUH.