Reductio ad bacterium: the ubiquity of Bayesian “brains” and the goals of cognitive science

Ben Sheredos

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2012.00498

Abstract

Reductio ad bacterium: the ubiquity of Bayesian “brains” and the goals of cognitive science

Highlights

A commentary on Whatever next? Predictive brains, situated agents, and the future of cognitive science by Clark, A
All organisms displaying circadian rhythmicity meet Clark’s criteria for “bidirectional hierarchical predictive processing,” and cognize using functional “brains.” I illustrate this via the circadian rhythmicity of single-celled cyanobacteria
It has been suggested that the evolutionary pressures resulting in ubiquitous Circadian rhythmicity (CR) arose ∼2.5 bya—the period in which the circadian clock of the blue-green alga Synechococcus elongatus first evolved (Edgar et al, 2012)

Summary

Introduction

A commentary on Whatever next? Predictive brains, situated agents, and the future of cognitive science by Clark, A. (in press). All organisms displaying circadian rhythmicity meet Clark’s criteria for “bidirectional hierarchical predictive processing,” and cognize using functional “brains.” I illustrate this via the circadian rhythmicity of single-celled cyanobacteria (blue-green algae). The transcription and translation of virtually the entire genome is regulated by the core clock (Kondo et al, 1993; Liu et al, 1995; Johnson et al, 1996; Ito et al, 2009).

Results

Conclusion