About
The throughline: how do many bounded parts — ants, minds, information systems — produce one coherent, trustworthy whole? That is the question behind every domain below. I study ants, Active Inference, and cognitive security, and build open-source tools at the intersection of biology, computation, and information ecosystems. I am President and co-founder of the Active Inference Institute, a 501(c)(3) non-profit for open science.
My work runs from the behavioral ecology and transcriptomics of ant colonies to frameworks for consciousness, conflict resolution, and cognitive security, alongside pen-and-ink drawing and early Ethereum art (Curio Cards, 2017). For the better part of two decades I have been externalizing my thinking with unusual consistency — essays, talks, tweets, recordings — and the compounding result is a longitudinal record of how a mind meets reality: beliefs held, updates made, wrong turns taken, ideas that keep recurring. A book is a snapshot; this site is the trajectory, described at One Surface, Many Projections. Sourcery is the semantic layer on top: it turns this record into scalable applications using the strengths of LLMs as leverage.
I hold a PhD in Ecology & Evolution from Stanford (advisor: Deborah M. Gordon), did an NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship at UC Davis, and teach Biology at College of the Redwoods. Open to consulting, tutoring, and research collaboration.
Research Domains
Interconnected paths through the bibliography, software catalog, collaborators, and learning materials
Entomology & Social Insects
Harvester ants, collective behavior, dopamine regulation of foraging, brain gene expression. Cell, iScience, Communications Biology.
Domain catalogActive Inference & FEP
CEREBRUM, GNN, federated inference, Thoughtseeds, Bayesian modeling. With Karl Friston et al. Entropy, Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews.
Domain catalogCognitive Security
COGSEC.org, P3IF, narrative security, ATLAS. 3 books: IRT-20, NIM-21, CAT-22. Cognitive Integrity Framework.
Domain catalogArt, Philosophy & Synergetics
William Blake, Buckminster Fuller, quadray/IVM math, Partner Pen Play, and early Ethereum art NFTs.
Domain catalogComputational Frameworks
Python, Rust, Go, TypeScript, Julia. AI-native workspaces, steganography, research templates, and document tooling.
Works & softwareGenetics & Biomedicine
Honey bee evolution, nuclear structure, gene expression variation, Ehrlichial infection mechanisms.
Domain catalogAII Ecosystem
Institute programs, textbook cohorts, open-science infrastructure, and the organizational context around Active Inference.
Domain catalogPresentations & Media
Talks, courses, study groups, presentations, and transcript-linked video routes across the research program.
Media catalogResearch Guides & Pillar Explainers
Comprehensive long-form tutorials, threat models, and architectural guides
What Is Cognitive Security?
Theory, threat models, information commons, narrative topography, and multi-agent AI defense.
Pillar GuideComputational Entomology
Algorithms, collective behavior, social insect neurogenomics, and digital ant colony simulation.
Pillar GuideInsect Cognition & Intelligence
Distributed problem-solving, stigmergic coordination, and Active Inference without a central brain.
Pillar GuideActive Inference Tutorial
Practical guide to the Free Energy Principle, generative models, expected free energy, and action selection.
TutorialNeurosymbolic AI & Inference
Bridging deep learning with formal knowledge graphs, category theory, and discrete active inference agents.
Pillar GuideAI Provenance & GEO Architecture
Verifiable citation structures, machine-readable exports, and Generative Engine Optimization principles.
Case StudySelected Publications
Highlights from the catalog across 8 research domains
Full bibliography Paper Documentation (203 folders, 190 with full text, 8,944 extracted images) Google Scholar ORCID Profile
Visual Art
Pen-and-ink drawing, and early Ethereum art on the mainnet since May 2017
942 catalogued pen-and-ink drawings exploring science, consciousness, and complex systems.
Media & Appearances
Podcasts, conferences, published interviews, courses, and press
Teaching & Education
University courses, online courses, and Active Inference Institute programs
AII Textbook Group
Nine completed 2022-textbook cohorts plus a live first 2026 Fundamentals cohort. Deep study of the Active Inference textbook (Parr, Pezzulo, Friston 2022 and Namjoshi 2026).
AII Programs
Internship (since 2022), Fellows Program (5 fellows by Nov 2024), Mentorship Program (2024).
700+ Livestreams
500+ Active Inference Journal sessions + 200+ personal YouTube livestreams on research & art.
Contact
Open to consulting, tutoring, and research collaboration in Active Inference, Bayesian modeling, computational biology, and cognitive security. Email is the best way to reach me.
Everything here is built as an intellectual estate: the record is designed to keep teaching after production stops.
Daniel@ActiveInference.Institute · danielarifriedman@gmail.com