Friston and his free energy ideas might help unify theories of human behavior.
A comprehensive survey paperwhat, exactly, is free energy? Why might all living things minimise it?
Start with a simpler idea: every organism is trying to minimise how surprising its experiences are. By “surprising”, we mean experiences that have not been encountered previously by the organism or its ancestors.
Your ancestors were successful enough to produce a lineage that eventually produced you, so what they experienced must have promoted survival. And your own experiences so far have resulted in you still being alive.
