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arXiv · 2309.06707

Return to Lacan: an approach to digital twin mind with free energy principle

Lingyu Li·Chunbo Li
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Abstract

Free energy principle (FEP) is a burgeoning theory in theoretical neuroscience that provides a universal law for modelling living systems of any scale. Expecting a digital twin mind from this first principle, we propose a macro-level interpretation that bridge neuroscience and psychoanalysis through the lens of computational Lacanian psychoanalysis. In this article, we claim three fundamental parallels between FEP and Lacanian psychoanalysis, and suggest a FEP approach to formalizing Lacan's theory. Sharing the non-linear temporal structure that combines prediction and retrospection (logical time), both of two theories focus on epistemological questions that how systems represented themselves and external world, and those elements failed to be represented (lacks and free energy) significantly influence the systems' subsequent states. Additionally, the fundamental hypothesis of FEP that the precise state of environment is always concealed, accounts for object petit a, the core concept in Lacan's theory. With neuropsychoanalytic mapping from three orders (the Real, the Symbolic, and the Imaginary, RSI) onto brain regions, we propose a brain-wide FEP model for a minimal definition of Lacanian mind - composite state of RSI that is perturbated by desire running over the logical time. The FEP-RSI model involves three FEP units connected by respective free energy with a natural compliance with logical time, mimicking core dynamics of Lacanian mind. The biological plausibility of current model is considered from perspectives of cognitive neuroscience. In conclusion, the FEP-RSI model encapsulates a unified framework for digital twin modeling at the macro level.

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Lingyu Li, Chunbo Li. 2023-09-13. Return to Lacan: an approach to digital twin mind with free energy principle. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1574650

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