Michael Zargham on Cybernetic Infrastructure

A quickie to capture this link: Very impressed watching this recorded Web3 Foundation talk by Michael Zargham. He’s a name I came across from making contact with the “Active Inference Lab”. I already know Anatoly Levenchuck and Karl Friston on the AIL Advisory Board and discovered that Zargham is another board member. (I’m intending to … Continue reading “Michael Zargham on Cybernetic Infrastructure”

Mental Switching Costs

The feeling of the brain being actively engaged with too many thoughts, to properly address any new issue, never mind any of the existing issues, is a common feeling – for me anyway. Once you have several mental balls in the air that are connected to some strategy to get something delivered productively, it’s impossible … Continue reading “Mental Switching Costs”

The Emperor’s New Markov-Blankets?

I mentioned in my review of Anatoly Levenchuk’s “Systems Thinking 2020” having some subsequent dialogue about common ground in other areas of the Psybertron agenda. A significant overlap is the work of Karl Friston (Free Energy Principle / Markov Blankets / Emergent Organism / Active Inference) in my reading of Mark Solms, and in Levenchuk’s … Continue reading “The Emperor’s New Markov-Blankets?”

“Definition as a Coffin” – Cybernetics to Systems Thinking

Definition as a Coffin? “Hold your definition” is a plea by philosopher Daniel Dennett, often cited here on Psybertron, when dealing patiently with his scientific friends. Any discourse that starts with apparently clear definitions, manipulated solely by logic, is inherently limited by the fit between the history of those definitions and future of reality. At … Continue reading ““Definition as a Coffin” – Cybernetics to Systems Thinking”

Before Returning to the Cortex

Just completed Chapters 7, 8 & 9 of the Hidden Spring, having been looking forward to 7 when I finished 6, here. Wow, this is good stuff from Solms. The contents / subjects … Free Energy Principle – Homeostasis, “self-evidencing” in self-organising systems, statistical thermodynamics, entropy and information, efficiency. Markov-blankets between self-organised layers, two-way / … Continue reading “Before Returning to the Cortex”

Kevin Mitchell’s Agency

Agency is the subject of this talk by Kevin Mitchell (Trinity, Dublin) outlining the arguments in his upcoming book “Free Agents – How Evolution Gave Us Free Will” (Oct 4th) – already on order on my book list. Been following and plugging his thinking into mine for a couple of years now, since his previous … Continue reading “Kevin Mitchell’s Agency”

Link Round Up

I have a zillion browser windows open on the laptop and phone, and after being away last week and being away this coming weekend I need to tidy-up, so I’ll capture a few here before I shut them all down. The links to AII are built into this morning’s post already. A fair review (?) … Continue reading “Link Round Up”

Housekeeping Update – Moving On

Been a bid distracted for a couple of weeks with no new deep reading or writing – not really sure why, some dent in motivation I can’t put a finger on, January blues maybe? Some domestic distractions, DIY car maintenance and planning our birthday city-break, probably relevant. Also tried to focus on engagement elsewhere in … Continue reading “Housekeeping Update – Moving On”