April 2022 Newsletter
Many updates on Lab activities and affordances for your participation
Many updates on Lab activities and affordances for your participation
Aweber
ActInfLab ~ April 2022 Newsletter 🔆⚽⚗️
Hello all, This email contains updates on ActInfLab activities during April 2022. Education We are organizing the first cohort of the Active Inference…
Forwarded from DX space
Robots that use Active Inference framework to learn and navigate were presented more than a year ago. They are not famous yet and are still at the beginning of the way to succeeding others, but people work hard to help them in this journey.
New developments on hierarchical models of Active Inference are presented in the recent paper by Ozan Çatal et al "Robot navigation as hierarchical active inference". ActInfLab unpacked the article and discussed it with the authors to make it as accessible as possible for all interested in the future of robotics and willing not to miss opportunities and affordances provided by state-of-the-art developments.
Unpacking #42.0, Discussion #42.1, Discussion #42.2
At ActInfLab, we work on the education of the framework. If this paper and videos took your attention and you would like to know more, please let me know in DM.
New developments on hierarchical models of Active Inference are presented in the recent paper by Ozan Çatal et al "Robot navigation as hierarchical active inference". ActInfLab unpacked the article and discussed it with the authors to make it as accessible as possible for all interested in the future of robotics and willing not to miss opportunities and affordances provided by state-of-the-art developments.
Unpacking #42.0, Discussion #42.1, Discussion #42.2
At ActInfLab, we work on the education of the framework. If this paper and videos took your attention and you would like to know more, please let me know in DM.
Telegram
DX space
Small steps for robot, giant leap for mankind.
"To our knowledge we are the first to successfully apply active inference on real-world, pixel-based inputs without any explicit state space dynamics specification"
Learning Generative State Space Models for…
"To our knowledge we are the first to successfully apply active inference on real-world, pixel-based inputs without any explicit state space dynamics specification"
Learning Generative State Space Models for…
How Active Inference Could Help Revolutionise Robotics
by Da Costa, Lanillos, Sajid, Friston, Khan
"Recent advances in neuroscience have characterised brain function using mathematical formalisms and first principles that may be usefully applied elsewhere. In this paper, we explain how active inference—a well-known denoscription of sentient behaviour from neuroscience—can be exploited in robotics. In short, active inference leverages the processes thought to underwrite human behaviour to build effective autonomous systems. These systems show state-of-the-art performance in several robotics settings; we highlight these and explain how this framework may be used to advance robotics."
doi.org/10.3390/e24030361
by Da Costa, Lanillos, Sajid, Friston, Khan
"Recent advances in neuroscience have characterised brain function using mathematical formalisms and first principles that may be usefully applied elsewhere. In this paper, we explain how active inference—a well-known denoscription of sentient behaviour from neuroscience—can be exploited in robotics. In short, active inference leverages the processes thought to underwrite human behaviour to build effective autonomous systems. These systems show state-of-the-art performance in several robotics settings; we highlight these and explain how this framework may be used to advance robotics."
doi.org/10.3390/e24030361
ActInfLab ~ 2022 Quarterly Roundtable #2
https://youtu.be/2s27lSZDqGM
June 29, 2022.
Our most recent quarterly roundtable meeting.
https://youtu.be/2s27lSZDqGM
June 29, 2022.
Our most recent quarterly roundtable meeting.
All past and upcoming livestreams:
https://coda.io/@active-inference-institute/livestreams
https://coda.io/@active-inference-institute/livestreams
Active Inference Institute pinned «All past and upcoming livestreams: https://coda.io/@active-inference-institute/livestreams»
December 2022 Newsletter from the Active Inference Institute:
https://activeinferenceinstitute.substack.com/p/december-2022-newsletter-active-inference?
https://activeinferenceinstitute.substack.com/p/december-2022-newsletter-active-inference?
February 2023 Newsletter 🐃🎨🧭 Active Inference Institute
https://activeinferenceinstitute.substack.com/p/february-2023-newsletter-active-inference?
https://activeinferenceinstitute.substack.com/p/february-2023-newsletter-active-inference?
From May through October 2023, the Active Inference Institute will host a course by Chris Fields (https://chrisfieldsresearch.com/), "Physics as Information Processing".
The course is free and online. There will be 6 Lectures, alternating with 6 participatory discussions facilitated by Ander Aguirre.
All materials and information on the course can be found at https://www.activeinference.org/education/Physics-Fields-2023
All sessions will be recorded and available at this YouTube playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNm0u2n1Iwdq0UnnnnkUr446lUz00x6E7
The course denoscription is below:
This six-session course will introduce participants to thinking about physical interaction as communication, and hence thinking about physical systems as communicating agents. It will show how the free-energy principle (FEP) and the idea of active inference apply to all physical systems, regardless of scale, subject only to constraints of conditional statistical independence or separability. It will investigate these constraints, their implementations, and their limits.
The course will introduce the formal methods of quantum information theory (QIT) and show how they relate to classical information theory. These methods will be employed as thinking tools, not calculating tools. A background in quantum theory or statistical physics will be useful but is not required; basic physics and some familiarity with linear algebra – vectors and operators – will be helpful. We will be discussing various abstract concepts, but with a focus on their intuitive meaning, not their formal structure No coding will be required, though anyone inclined in this direction will see many opportunities for model building.
There will be one “live” presentation session and one live discussion session per month, together with asynchronous Q&A and discussion. All sessions will be recorded and accessible asynchronously.
The course is free and online. There will be 6 Lectures, alternating with 6 participatory discussions facilitated by Ander Aguirre.
All materials and information on the course can be found at https://www.activeinference.org/education/Physics-Fields-2023
All sessions will be recorded and available at this YouTube playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNm0u2n1Iwdq0UnnnnkUr446lUz00x6E7
The course denoscription is below:
This six-session course will introduce participants to thinking about physical interaction as communication, and hence thinking about physical systems as communicating agents. It will show how the free-energy principle (FEP) and the idea of active inference apply to all physical systems, regardless of scale, subject only to constraints of conditional statistical independence or separability. It will investigate these constraints, their implementations, and their limits.
The course will introduce the formal methods of quantum information theory (QIT) and show how they relate to classical information theory. These methods will be employed as thinking tools, not calculating tools. A background in quantum theory or statistical physics will be useful but is not required; basic physics and some familiarity with linear algebra – vectors and operators – will be helpful. We will be discussing various abstract concepts, but with a focus on their intuitive meaning, not their formal structure No coding will be required, though anyone inclined in this direction will see many opportunities for model building.
There will be one “live” presentation session and one live discussion session per month, together with asynchronous Q&A and discussion. All sessions will be recorded and accessible asynchronously.
March 2023 Newsletter 🎢 🫠💮 Active Inference Institute
https://activeinferenceinstitute.substack.com/p/march-2023-newsletter-active-inference
https://activeinferenceinstitute.substack.com/p/march-2023-newsletter-active-inference
"Blockference: an Open Source Package for Cognitive Modeling in Web3"
https://explorer.gitcoin.co/#/round/1/0x6e8dc2e623204d61b0e59e668702654ae336c9f7/0x6e8dc2e623204d61b0e59e668702654ae336c9f7-13
Gitcoin grant now open, 14 days to support this and other #deSci projects!
More information on Active Blockference:
https://activeinference.org/research/active-blockference
https://github.com/ActiveInferenceInstitute/ActiveBlockference
https://zenodo.org/record/7484994# "An Active Inference Ontology for Decentralized Science: from Situated Sensemaking to the Epistemic Commons"
We are interested to collaborate on this project, directly on Active Blockference (people wanting to learn and apply Active Inference modeling), or in partnership (maybe a use case, or how you suggest)
https://explorer.gitcoin.co/#/round/1/0x6e8dc2e623204d61b0e59e668702654ae336c9f7/0x6e8dc2e623204d61b0e59e668702654ae336c9f7-13
Gitcoin grant now open, 14 days to support this and other #deSci projects!
More information on Active Blockference:
https://activeinference.org/research/active-blockference
https://github.com/ActiveInferenceInstitute/ActiveBlockference
https://zenodo.org/record/7484994# "An Active Inference Ontology for Decentralized Science: from Situated Sensemaking to the Epistemic Commons"
We are interested to collaborate on this project, directly on Active Blockference (people wanting to learn and apply Active Inference modeling), or in partnership (maybe a use case, or how you suggest)
April 2023 Newsletter
Active Inference Institute
https://activeinferenceinstitute.substack.com/p/april-2023-newsletter-active-inference
Active Inference Institute
https://activeinferenceinstitute.substack.com/p/april-2023-newsletter-active-inference
May 2023 Newsletter 🌊📢🦌 Active Inference Institute
https://activeinferenceinstitute.substack.com/p/may-2023-newsletter-active-inference
Many exciting updates and opportunities for engagement with the growing Active Inference ecosystem.
https://activeinferenceinstitute.substack.com/p/may-2023-newsletter-active-inference
Many exciting updates and opportunities for engagement with the growing Active Inference ecosystem.
Our paper has been published in final form in Entropy!
https://mdpi.com/1099-4300/25/7/964
"A Variational Synthesis of Evolutionary and Developmental Dynamics"
Karl Friston, Daniel A. Friedman, Axel Constant, V. Bleu Knight, Chris Fields, Thomas Parr, John O. Campbell
Keywords: self-organisation; nonequilibrium; variational inference; Bayesian; particular partition; evolution; natural selection; Markov blanket; renormalisation group
Compared with the previous pre-print, we've added some discussion of applications & a numerical simulation of multiscale learning in a neural system.
This is a very exciting step towards synthesis of Active Inference & Free Energy Principle, with Ecology/Evolution/Development and Complex Systems approaches to Biology.
https://mdpi.com/1099-4300/25/7/964
"A Variational Synthesis of Evolutionary and Developmental Dynamics"
Karl Friston, Daniel A. Friedman, Axel Constant, V. Bleu Knight, Chris Fields, Thomas Parr, John O. Campbell
Keywords: self-organisation; nonequilibrium; variational inference; Bayesian; particular partition; evolution; natural selection; Markov blanket; renormalisation group
Compared with the previous pre-print, we've added some discussion of applications & a numerical simulation of multiscale learning in a neural system.
This is a very exciting step towards synthesis of Active Inference & Free Energy Principle, with Ecology/Evolution/Development and Complex Systems approaches to Biology.
New course announcement at the Institute, from July-November 2023!
"Constructing cultural landscapes: Active Inference for the Social Sciences"
Avel Guénin-Carlut, Ben White, Mahault Albarracin, Lorena Sganzerla, Daniel Friedman
A participatory online course in 2023 co-organized by Kairos Research and the Active Inference Institute
https://twitter.com/InferenceActive/status/1673455622921256962
https://www.activeinference.org/education/active-inference-for-the-social-sciences
View comprehensive course details on the public page https://coda.io/@active-inference-institute/active-inference-social-science-aii-2023
Follow the Course Syllabus for session insights and recordings https://coda.io/@active-inference-institute/active-inference-social-science-aii-2023/course-syllabus-2
Submit your inquiries at Questions & Answers https://coda.io/@active-inference-institute/active-inference-social-science-aii-2023/questions-answers-3
Be a part of the live-streamed dialogues by Registering now! https://coda.io/@active-inference-institute/active-inference-social-science-aii-2023/register-to-join-discussions-4
"Constructing cultural landscapes: Active Inference for the Social Sciences"
Avel Guénin-Carlut, Ben White, Mahault Albarracin, Lorena Sganzerla, Daniel Friedman
A participatory online course in 2023 co-organized by Kairos Research and the Active Inference Institute
https://twitter.com/InferenceActive/status/1673455622921256962
https://www.activeinference.org/education/active-inference-for-the-social-sciences
View comprehensive course details on the public page https://coda.io/@active-inference-institute/active-inference-social-science-aii-2023
Follow the Course Syllabus for session insights and recordings https://coda.io/@active-inference-institute/active-inference-social-science-aii-2023/course-syllabus-2
Submit your inquiries at Questions & Answers https://coda.io/@active-inference-institute/active-inference-social-science-aii-2023/questions-answers-3
Be a part of the live-streamed dialogues by Registering now! https://coda.io/@active-inference-institute/active-inference-social-science-aii-2023/register-to-join-discussions-4