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All of Jeff Beck's Comments + Replies

Agent Boundaries Aren't Markov Blankets. [Unless they're non-causal; see comments.]
Jeff Beck10

It is also worth noting that any boundary defined in a manner that is consistent with systems identification theory forms a Markov Blanket by definition.  

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Agent Boundaries Aren't Markov Blankets. [Unless they're non-causal; see comments.]
Jeff Beck30

While most examples in the literature utilize static Markov blankets in which time does not affect whether or not nodes are assigned to object, blanket, and environment this is not a necessary feature of Markov Blankets.  They can move and model exchanges of matter between object and environment.  In a dynamic setting, every single node has a markov blanket and the intersection of the blankets associated with each any set of nodes also forms a markov blanket (even if that blanket is disconnected).  For this reason, the Markov blankets alone ... (read more)

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2abramdemski
I don't understand. The fact that every single node has a Markov blanket seems unrelated. The claim that the intersection of any two blankets is a blanket doesn't seem true? For example, I can have a network: a -> b -> c |     |     | v    v     v d -> e -> f |      |     | v      v      v g -> h -> i   It seems like the intersection of the blankets for 'a' and 'c' don't form a blanket.