Mindscape 87 | Karl Friston on Brains, Predictions, and Free Energy

In this episode of the Mindscape podcast, host Sean Carroll interviews neuroscientist Karl Friston about the free energy principle, a theory of how the brain works. Friston explains that the brain is constantly trying to minimize surprise by creating a model of the world and updating its beliefs using Bayesian inference. They discuss the relationship between free energy and entropy, the role of generative models, and how the free energy principle can be applied to understand psychiatric conditions like schizophrenia. Friston also touches on the importance of Markov blankets in defining the boundary between self and other, and the potential implications of the free energy principle for the origin of life. The conversation also explores the distinction between living in the moment and planning for the future, and the role of precision in inference and psychiatric disorders.