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Physics of Life Reviews

Volume 24, March 2018, Pages 59-66
Physics of Life Reviews

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Variational neuroethology: Answering further questions: Reply to comments on “Answering Schrödinger's question: A free-energy formulation”

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What's in a name?

Bruineberg and Hesp [4] make the lucid point that, given our choice of words, VNE should only apply to the behaviour of animals with a central nervous system (CNS). Clearly, however, the scope of our metatheory ought to extend beyond this limited domain – indeed, to any living system in general.

We consider the term “variational neuroethology” to be not altogether inappropriate. VNE is a synthesis of a variational formulation of the function, structure, and dynamics of the nervous system (i.e.,

VNE as a multiscale, formal ontology of life

A few of the commentaries criticised VNE's formal ontology of nested Markov blankets. The appropriateness of our ontology was questioned by Bruineberg and Hesp [4], Kirchhoff [7], Kirmayer [8], and Bitbol and Gallagher [3]. Bruineberg and Hesp [4] argue that although the Markov blankets for clearly bounded systems (e.g., single cells and organisms) are intuitive, those for larger-scale, higher-order systems are not so clearly drawn. Similarly, Kirmayer [8] suggests that the Markov boundaries of

VNE as a multidisciplinary research heuristic

We were encouraged to observe that many commentators could see the promise of VNE as a research heuristic. Here, it is important not to conflate our ontology of nested Markov blankets – a theoretical proposal that might only be confirmed empirically via simulation studies (as noted by Bruineberg & Hesp [4] and Allen [1]) – and the broader, heuristic value of synthesising the FEP with Tinbergen's four questions as a guide to multidisciplinary research. Criticisms of the former should be kept

Formal affairs

Bellomo and Elaiw [2], and Martyushev [10] make some excellent points. They speak to the importance of carefully relating information theoretic constructs in the FEP to physics and applied mathematics. This will be necessary for the variational formulation to be taken seriously in the physical sciences – and to engage applied mathematicians in the study biological self-organisation.

We limit ourselves to responding from the perspective of the FEP per se (that underwrites VNE). The first thing to

Acknowledgements

In closing, we again extend our sincere thanks to the commentators for critically engaging with our work. We are most grateful for their valuable insights and believe that future applications of VNE will benefit as a consequence.

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    Work on this Response was supported by the Wellcome Trust (Ref: 088130/Z/09/Z) (K.J. Friston) and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (M.J.D. Ramstead). We thank our commentators for their generous and helpful remarks and suggestions. We also thank Axel Constant for helpful discussions and comments on earlier versions of this Response.

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