hypothesis

active

hypothesis:agents-who-have-undergone-stable-emptiness-realisation-will-exhibit-neural-dynamics-closer-to-criticality-than-matched-controls

Agents who have undergone stable emptiness realisation will exhibit neural dynamics closer to criticality than matched controls

Primary empirical prediction derived from the reduced VFE of the post-dual agent

Source paper

extracted_from

There is no self-evidence: A physics of emptiness realisation

(2026) · Lars Sandved-Smith · Chris Fields · Thomas Doctor · Ruben Laukkonen +1

Neighborhood — ranked by edge-count

Findings (3)

finding

Experienced meditators in jhana/dhyana states exhibit a shift toward a metastable near-critical regime characterised by increased neural signal diversity, reduced chaoticity and enhanced perturbational sensitivity (Mago et al. 2025)
associated_withsupports
Empirical convergence with the paper's criticality prediction for post-dual agents
Bayes-optimal perception inherently produces self-organised instability (local Lyapunov exponents fluctuating around zero), so FEP drives the system toward criticality (Friston et al. 2012)
supports
Establishes the mechanistic link between lower VFE and critical dynamics, supporting the paper's criticality prediction
Whole-brain modelling demonstrates that jhana states are associated with dynamics approaching criticality using neurophenomenological methods (Vohryzek et al. 2025)
supports
Second empirical convergence with the criticality prediction, using computational brain modelling

Claims (1)

claim

Buddhist awakening can be formalised as Bayesian model reduction of the separation prior sigma, yielding a post-dual agent with unconstrained QRF deployments
associated_with
Central theoretical contribution of the paper unifying contemplative path with active inference framework

Concepts (1)

concept

Neural Criticality
associated_with
Threshold between ordered and chaotic dynamics; predicted to be more prevalent in post-dual agents due to lower VFE

Methods (2)

method

EEG Neural Criticality Measurement
associated_with
Proposed empirical method for testing the criticality prediction in populations reporting stable selflessness
fMRI Neural Criticality Measurement
associated_with
Proposed empirical method alongside EEG for measuring signatures of criticality in post-dual agents

Related by similarity (8)

cosine ≥ 0.65 · no typed edge

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Meta-statement about the paper's content.
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