Abstract
This paper starts from Schrödinger’s famous question “what is life” and elucidates answers that invoke, in particular, Friston’s free energy principle and its relation to the method of Bayesian inference and to Synergetics 2nd foundation that utilizes Jaynes’ maximum entropy principle. Our presentation reflects the shift from the emphasis on physical principles to principles of information theory and Synergetics. In view of the expected general audience of this issue, we have chosen a somewhat tutorial style that does not require special knowledge on physics but familiarizes the reader with concepts rooted in information theory and Synergetics.
Highlights
This is our second study on information and self-organization
Homeostasis requires the internal and external regulation of all needed life processes to guarantee the maintenance of order in contrast to thermodynamics with its second law of increasing entropy
An answer to this puzzle was given by Schrödinger: a biological system is an open system whose structure and function is maintained by free energy—or, more precisely, as outlined above, by an influx of free energy
Summary
This is our second study on information and self-organization. In the first [1], our focus was on the exchange of information between a system and its environment. Formulation of it in the context of Statistical mechanics, to MacKay [9,10] (information theory), and, recently, to Friston in the context of life sciences As it will transpire below, FEP as originally defined by Feynman, is a terminus technicus to characterize a specific mathematical procedure to calculate an energy, e.g., of a ferromagnet. This time, we look at the question of life from the perspective of the discussions in Sections 2–5 above, focusing on the way a living system maintains its steady state. To understand life, there is a need to deal with phase transitions, taking into account the fundamental role of information, and the principles of self-organization as theorized by Synergetics
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