#99 – Karl Friston: Neuroscience and the Free Energy Principle
May 28, 2020
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In this engaging discussion, neuroscientist Karl Friston, a pioneer in brain imaging and the free energy principle, delves into the complexities of the human brain. He explains how neuroimaging techniques reveal the intricacies of connectivity and brain function. Friston also explores the fascinating intersection of neuroscience and machine learning, emphasizing the importance of active learning. Additionally, he shares thoughts on consciousness, self-awareness, and the ethical challenges in brain-computer interface technologies, tackling profound questions about existence and identity.
Understanding the intricate mapping of the human brain at micro and holistic levels presents challenges in neuroscience.
The brain's hierarchical structure, likened to an onion, showcases sparse connectivity and diverse neural computations.
The Free Energy Principle asserts that optimizing free energy through inference is fundamental for entities, from living organisms to inanimate objects.
Deep dives
Understanding the Brain Through Mapping and Cartography
Achieving a detailed mapping of the human brain, down to the microcircuitry and neuron level, is deemed challenging. Different career paths in neuroscience, whether focusing on microscopic synaptic structures or holistic functional anatomy, offer varying insights into brain functions. High-field magnetic resonance imaging aids in studying brain activity at a millimeter scale, revealing insights into canonical microcircuitry and neuronal population dynamics.
Hierarchical Organization of the Brain
The brain exhibits hierarchical and recurrent aspects in its structure, characterized by sparse connectivity. Describing the brain as structured like an onion, with sensory information processed on the surface and deeper layers analyzing these inputs, reveals a hierarchical organization. Connectivity studies emphasize that the brain's sparsity underlies a structured connectivity akin to an onion's concentric layers, showcasing a hierarchical architecture facilitating diverse neural computations.
The Free Energy Principle and Existential Imperatives
The Free Energy Principle posits that systems existing in a changing world seek to minimize variational free energy, implying an inference problem critical for survival. Viewing existence as an optimization process of maximizing evidence for one's existence, the principle extends across living organisms and even simple entities like oil drops. It outlines a fundamental framework to understand the properties of structures maintaining boundaries with their surroundings, emphasizing the nuanced interplay between form, function, and environmental interface.
Existence and Optimization of Free Energy
The discussion revolves around the concept of the free energy principle suggesting that entities exist and optimize their free energy through self-evidencing. The free energy principle implies that systems, from grains of sand to living beings, optimize their states by minimizing free energy, indicating a form of autonomy and self-organization.
Autonomous Systems and Planning Behavior
The conversation delves into the distinction between non-living entities like an oil drop and living organisms like tadpoles, highlighting the role of internal states influencing active states. Living systems exhibit autonomous behaviors, planning abilities, and non-random movements linked to structured internal dynamics. The narrative extends to the significance of movement, self-awareness, consciousness, and the inference of one's existence within a social context.
Karl Friston is one of the greatest neuroscientists in history, cited over 245,000 times, known for many influential ideas in brain imaging, neuroscience, and theoretical neurobiology, including the fascinating idea of the free-energy principle for action and perception.
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This conversation is part of the Artificial Intelligence podcast. If you would like to get more information about this podcast go to https://lexfridman.com/ai or connect with @lexfridman on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Medium, or YouTube where you can watch the video versions of these conversations. If you enjoy the podcast, please rate it 5 stars on Apple Podcasts, follow on Spotify, or support it on Patreon.
Here’s the outline of the episode. On some podcast players you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time.
OUTLINE:
00:00 – Introduction
01:50 – How much of the human brain do we understand?
05:53 – Most beautiful characteristic of the human brain
10:43 – Brain imaging
20:38 – Deep structure
21:23 – History of brain imaging
32:31 – Neuralink and brain-computer interfaces
43:05 – Free energy principle
1:24:29 – Meaning of life
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