The Free Energy Principle (FEP) proposes a unifying theory of how living systems persist. Life exists in direct opposition to entropy. While the universe trends toward disorder, living things resist it. A plant keeps its leaves green, a bird maintains its body temperature, a cell preserves its boundary.

The FEP explains how this is possible: living systems must minimize the difference between their expectations and their sensory experiences. This difference represents uncertainty about the world. It's called "free energy" in analogy to "thermodynamic free energy" which measures potential for change. Too much uncertainty threatens survival, so living systems evolved two strategies to minimize it:

1. Passive inference: updating internal models to better predict reality
2. Active inference: changing the environment to match predictions

From perception to higher order cognition, the FEP describes how living beings make sense of reality to stay alive.

Understanding is prediction

If meaning is what we seek when we have gaps of understanding, and is personal and ineffable - what is understanding? And how do we understand each other at all?

Understanding means prediction. When we understand something - a smile, a mathematical equation, or a weather system - we narrow down what might happen. Understanding reduces chaos into patterns. It reduces infinite possibilities into likely outcomes.

We need understanding not just to communicate or solve problems. We need it to relate to anything. With understanding we can anticipate what comes next. Without it we can't know if fire burns or if a gesture means welcome or threat. We can't function. Everything would be unpredictable and chaotic.

The meaning of meaning

I found formal definitions of meaning quite confusing, presenting it as different types or things without a clear unifying essence. My interest is in a definition that reflects how we use it in everyday life.

We use the word meaning when facing gaps in understanding.

"What's the meaning of this word?" "What do these results mean?" "What is the meaning of life?"