Active Inference Insights

Mark Solms ~ Active Inference Insights 017 ~ Affect, Consciousness, Dreams

It’s more consciousness-talk on today’s episode of Active Inference Insights, as Darius discusses affective states, dreams, interoception and much more with psychoanalyst and neuropsychologist Professor Mark Solms.

Wanja Wiese ~ Active Inference Insights 016 ~ Consciousness, Information Geometry, Ethical AI

You may, at some point during this episode, find yourself self-modelling about your self-model’s ability to model itself in a self-modelled way. If so, sorry. Today’s episode is, indeed, all about selfhood, as well as other phenomenal states, such as the minimal phenomenal experience and AI awareness, as Darius is joined by philosopher and cognitive scientist, Wanja Wiese.

Michael Levin & Franz Kuchling ~ Active Inference Insights 015 ~ Morphogenesis, Selfhood, Teleonomy

Today’s episode is a voyage into space. Well, morph-space. Tune in to learn about morphogenesis, cellular teleonomy and planaria from groundbreaking biologists Michael Levin and Franz Kuchling. Together with Darius, they also explore fundamental questions of selfhood and autonomy, all from a biological perspective.

Alex Kiefer ~ Active Inference Insights 014 ~ Representations, Predictive Coding, Teleology

In this episode of Active Inference Insights, Darius invites philosopher and machine learning expert Alex Kiefer onto the show. Together, they tackle the big issues, from the role of representations in Active Inference to Bayesian structural realism, Helmholtz machines to POMDPs.

Ryan Smith ~ Active Inference Insights 013 ~ Wellbeing, Modelling, Precision

Active Inference Insights 013 is all about modelling: not only how we model our lived world, but also how we might scientifically model that modelling process ourselves. With neuro-computationalist Ryan Smith at the helm, expect to learn about the difference between empirical computational psychiatry and in-silico simulations, the role of aberrant precision-weighting in neuropsychological disorders and how a little parameter called ‘gamma’ might hold the key to a life of wellbeing.

Ronald Sladky ~ Active Inference Insights 012 ~ Amygdala, Priors, fMRI

Amygdala lovers unite: this one is for you. This week, Darius and neuroscientist Ronald Sladky explore the wonderful and wacky world of subcortical structures, with a special focus on the mysterious, infamous amygdala. This conversation also details developments in brain imaging, and attempts to bring clarity to that age-old active inference question: what are priors?

Julian Kiverstein ~ Active Inference Insights 011 ~ Affordances, Enaction, Phenomenology

This week’s Active Inference Insights is a rollercoaster of all things cognitive, brought to you by Darius and philosopher / neurophenomenologist Julian Kiverstein. Over three hours you can expect to learn about non-representational cognition, affordances, the irreducibility of phenomena, self-modelling, the extended mind, consciousness and so much more.

Lance Da Costa ~ Active Inference Insights 010 ~ Mathematics, Time, Selfhood

In this episode of Active Inference Insights, we welcome our first mathematician onto the show: Lance Da Costa. If you’re into Langevins, Fokker-Plancks, solenoidals and Fisher information metric tensors, this one is for you. However, if all that terrifies you to high heaven, don’t fret; Lance and Darius also explore eco-niche modelling, temporality, metacognition and far more in this deep dive into cutting-edge Active Inference theory.

Chris Frith ~ Active Inference Insights 009 ~ Mentalizing, Schizophrenia, Consciousness

This week, Darius is joined by a truly legendary figure in the world of neuropsychology: Chris Frith. In this conversation, Chris takes us through his seminal oeuvre , expounding the key insights he has made in the fields of social cognition, schizophrenia, consciousness, agency and selfhood.

Alexander Ororbia ~ Active Inference Insights 008 ~ Mortal Computation, Cybernetics, AI

With all the current excitement around the prospect of artificial general intelligence, it is easy to forget that there already exist exemplars of problem-solving and creativity all around us - namely, ourselves. With this in mind, join Darius and computer scientist Alexander Ororbia for a discussion of biomimicry and mortal computation, which centres on the viability of building artificial systems modelled on the evolved, intelligent life forms on this planet.