From Physics to Sentience: Deciphering the Semantics of the Free-Energy Principle and Evaluating its Claims

Abstract

The Free-Energy Principle (FEP) [1-3] has been adopted in a variety of ambitious proposals that aim to characterize all adaptive, sentient, and cognitive systems within a unifying framework. Judging by the amount of attention it has received from the scientific community, the FEP has gained significant traction in these pursuits. The current target article represents an important iteration of this research paradigm in formally describing emergent dynamics rather than merely (quasi-)steady states. This affords more in-depth considerations of the spatio-temporal complexities of cross-scale causality - as we have encouraged and built towards in previous publications (e.g., [4-9]). In this spirit of constructive feedback, we submit a few technical comments on some of the matters that appear to require further attention, in order to improve the clarity, rigour, and applicability of this framework.