On Markov blankets and hierarchical self-organisation.

ABSTRACT: Biological self-organisation can be regarded as a process of spontaneous pattern formation; namely, the emergence of structures that distinguish themselves from their environment. This process can occur at nested spatial scales: from the microscopic (e.g., the emergence of cells) to the macroscopic (e.g. the emergence of organisms). In this paper, we pursue the idea that Markov blankets - that separate the internal states of a structure from external states - can self-assemble at successively higher levels of organisation. Using simulations, based on the principle of variational free energy minimisation, we show that hierarchical self-organisation emerges when the microscopic elements of an ensemble have prior (e.g., genetic) beliefs that they participate in a macroscopic Markov blanket: i

SUBMITTER: Palacios ER 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7284313 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature