I have not read all the comments yet, so maybe this is redundant, but anyway...
I think it is plausible that humans and other life forms, are mostly made up of layers of control systems, stacked on each other. However it does not follow from this that humans are trying to minimise prediction error.
There are probably some part of the brain that is trying to minimise prediction error. Possibly organised as a control system that tries to keep expectations in line with reality. Because it is useful to be able to accurately predict the world.
But if we are a stack of control systems, then I would expect other parts of the brain to be control systems for other things. E.g. Having the correct level of blood sugar, having a good amount of social interaction, having a good amount of variety in our lives.
I can imagine someone figuring out more or less how the prediction control system works and what it is doing, then looking at everything else, noticing the similarity (becasue it is all types of control systems and evolution tend to reuse structures) and thinking “Hmm, maybe it is all about predictions”. But I also think that would be wrong.
I have not read all the comments yet, so maybe this is redundant, but anyway...
I think it is plausible that humans and other life forms, are mostly made up of layers of control systems, stacked on each other. However it does not follow from this that humans are trying to minimise prediction error.
There are probably some part of the brain that is trying to minimise prediction error. Possibly organised as a control system that tries to keep expectations in line with reality. Because it is useful to be able to accurately predict the world.
But if we are a stack of control systems, then I would expect other parts of the brain to be control systems for other things. E.g. Having the correct level of blood sugar, having a good amount of social interaction, having a good amount of variety in our lives.
I can imagine someone figuring out more or less how the prediction control system works and what it is doing, then looking at everything else, noticing the similarity (becasue it is all types of control systems and evolution tend to reuse structures) and thinking “Hmm, maybe it is all about predictions”. But I also think that would be wrong.