Steam-engine naturalism.
Manuel Baltieri, Ryota Kanai
Behavioral and Brain Sciences September 17, 2026 DOI: 10.1017/s0140525x25103531 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Commentary Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Key points | Argues that Seth's biological naturalism, which uses predictive processing, the free energy principle, and active inference to claim that only some biological systems can be conscious and that artificial consciousness is impossible, is problematic on several grounds. |
Abstract
Seth's biological naturalism builds on ideas from predictive processing, the free energy principle, and active inference to (1) argue that only (some) biological systems are in the consciousness business and to (2) refute the possibility of artificial consciousness, i.e., consciousness in AI and other artificial systems. We find this perspective problematic for a few different reasons.