---
type: claim
domain: critical-systems
description: "Each organizational level maintains its own Markov blanket, generative model, and free energy minimization dynamics"
confidence: likely
source: "Ramstead, Badcock, Friston (2018), 'Answering Schrödinger's Question: A Free-Energy Formulation', Physics of Life Reviews"
created: 2026-03-11
secondary_domains: [collective-intelligence, ai-alignment]
---

# Active inference operates at every scale of biological organization from cells to societies with each level maintaining its own Markov blanket generative model and free energy minimization dynamics

The free energy principle (FEP) extends beyond neural systems to explain the dynamics of living systems across all spatial and temporal scales. From molecular processes within cells to cellular organization within organs, from individual organisms to social groups, each level of biological organization implements active inference through its own Markov blanket structure.

This scale-free formulation means that the same mathematical principles governing prediction error minimization in neural systems also govern:
- Cellular homeostasis and metabolic regulation
- Organismal behavior and adaptation
- Social coordination and collective behavior

Each level maintains statistical boundaries (Markov blankets) that separate internal states from external states while allowing selective coupling through sensory and active states. The generative model at each scale encodes expectations about the level-appropriate environment, and free energy minimization drives both perception (updating beliefs) and action (changing the environment to match predictions).

The integration with Tinbergen's four research questions (mechanism, development, function, evolution) provides a structured framework for understanding how these dynamics operate: What mechanism implements inference at this scale? How does the system develop its generative model? What function does free energy minimization serve? How did this capacity evolve?

## Evidence
- Ramstead et al. (2018) demonstrate mathematical formalization of FEP across scales
- Nested Markov blanket structure observed empirically from cellular to social organization
- Variational neuroethology framework integrates FEP with established biological research paradigms

---

Relevant Notes:
- [[markov-blankets-enable-complex-systems-to-maintain-identity-while-interacting-with-environment-through-nested-statistical-boundaries]]
- [[emergence-is-the-fundamental-pattern-of-intelligence-from-ant-colonies-to-brains-to-civilizations]]

Topics:
- [[critical-systems/_map]]
- [[collective-intelligence/_map]]