Researcher · Artist · Officer
Entomology · Active Inference · Synergetics · Cognitive Security
I study ants, Active Inference, and cognitive security — and build open-source tools at the intersection of Bayesian modeling, computational biology, and information ecosystem design.
- 🐜 Entomologist — PhD (Stanford) on the behavioral, physiological, and transcriptomic bases of collective behavior in harvester ants, with publications in Nature Communications Biology, Cell, Science Reports, Annual Reviews of Neuroscience, and Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience
- 🧠 Active Inference — Co-author with Karl Friston, Maxwell Ramstead, and others on federated inference, variational evolutionary dynamics, and multi-agent generative models; builder of computational frameworks (CEREBRUM, GNN, InferAnts)
- 🛡️ Cognitive Security — Author of books and papers on narrative information ecosystems, digital rhetorical analysis, and formal multiagent security frameworks at COGSEC.org and the Active Inference Institute
- 🎨 Artist — Ink, metal, and collaborative art; explorations of William Blake, Buckminster Fuller, and synergetics
- 📺 Educator — 500+ Active Inference livestreams, 200+ personal channel streams, Udemy courses, and open-source curricula
Full catalog: 100+ works spanning peer-reviewed papers, books, presentations, courses, and policy comments (2015–2026). Organized below by research area.
Peer-reviewed papers on ant genetics, behavior, and collective intelligence (click to expand)
| Year | Title | Venue | DOI |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Chemical and transcriptomic diversity do not correlate with ascending levels of social complexity in Blattodea | Ecology & Evolution | 10.1002/ece3.70063 |
| 2023 | A single-pheromone model accounts for empirical patterns of ant colony foraging | Cognitive Systems Research | 10.1016/j.cogsys.2023.02.005 |
| 2023 | Experimental Entomology in the Age of Video | JoVE | e65002 |
| 2023 | A snapshot and pipeline for tissue-specific gene expression meta-analysis in honey bees | Zenodo | 10.5281/zenodo.10400744 |
| 2021 | Active Inferants: An Active Inference Framework for Ant Colony Behavior | Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience | 10.3389/fnbeh.2021.647732 |
| 2020 | Distributed physiology and the molecular basis of social life in eusocial insects | Hormones & Behavior | 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2020.104757 |
| 2020 | Gene expression variation in the brains of harvester ant foragers is associated with collective behavior | Nature Communications Biology | 10.1038/s42003-020-0813-8 |
| 2020 | Measurement of natural variation of neurotransmitter tissue content in red harvester ant brains | Analytical & Bioanalytical Chemistry | 10.1007/s00216-019-02355-3 |
| 2019 | The ant colony as a test for scientific theories of consciousness | Synthese | 10.1007/s11229-019-02130-y |
| 2019 | The physiology of forager hydration and variation among harvester ant colonies | Science Reports | 10.1038/s41598-019-41586-3 |
| 2019 | PhD: Behavioral, Physiological, and Transcriptomic Variation Among Colonies of Pogonomyrmex barbatus | Stanford University | purl.stanford.edu |
| 2018 | The Role of Dopamine in Collective Regulation of Foraging in Harvester Ants | iScience | 10.1016/j.isci.2018.09.001 |
| 2018 | Foraging behavior and locomotion of the invasive Argentine ant from winter aggregations | PLoS One | 10.1371/journal.pone.0202117 |
| 2017 | The MutAnts are here | Cell | 10.1016/j.cell.2017.07.046 |
| 2017 | Two lineages that need each other | Molecular Ecology | 10.1111/mec.13964 |
| 2016 | Context-dependent expression of the foraging gene in field colonies of ants | Proceedings of the Royal Society B | 10.1098/rspb.2016.0841 |
| 2016 | Ant Genetics: Reproductive Physiology, Worker Morphology, and Behavior | Annual Reviews of Neuroscience | 10.1146/annurev-neuro-070815-013927 |
| 2025 | The Ant Stack | Zenodo | 10.5281/zenodo.16782756 |
| 2025 | Computational Complexity and Energetics of the Ant Stack | Zenodo | 10.5281/zenodo.17238736 |
| 2025 | Towards a Science of Consciousness and Social Complexity... For Ants | Book Chapter | 978-65-5272-128-0 |
Theoretical, computational, and applied Active Inference research (click to expand)
| Year | Title | Venue | DOI |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Federated inference and belief sharing | Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews | 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2023.105500 |
| 2024 | Shared Protentions in Multi-Agent Active Inference | Entropy | 10.3390/e26040303 |
| 2024 | Enhancing Population-based Search with Active Inference | ArXiv | 10.48550/arXiv.2408.09548 |
| 2025 | CEREBRUM: Case-Enabled Reasoning Engine with Bayesian Representations for Unified Modeling | Zenodo | 10.5281/zenodo.15170907 |
| 2025 | Thoughtseeds: A Hierarchical and Agentic Framework for Investigating Thought Dynamics in Meditative States | Entropy | 10.3390/e27050459 |
| 2025 | Temporal Depth in a Coherent Self and in Depersonalization | Frontiers in Psychology | 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1585315 |
| 2025 | Increasing the Accessibility and Applicability of Active Inference | Zenodo | 10.5281/zenodo.15061667 |
| 2025 | EvoJump: Stochastic Modeling of Evolutionary Ontogenetic Trajectories | Zenodo | 10.5281/zenodo.17229924 |
| 2023 | A variational synthesis of evolutionary and developmental dynamics | Entropy | 10.3390/e25070964 |
| 2023 | Generalized Notation Notation for Active Inference Models | Zenodo | 10.5281/zenodo.7803328 |
| 2023 | Generative Research Teams: Active Inference Compositions for Research and Meta-Science | Zenodo | 10.5281/zenodo.8164667 |
| 2023 | An Account of Active Inference Modeling | Zenodo | 10.5281/zenodo.8415313 |
| 2023 | Distributed Science — The Scientific Process as Multi-Scale Active Inference | OSF | 10.31219/osf.io/dnw5k |
| 2023 | A guided tour through the spaces of particular "minds" | Physics of Life Reviews | 10.1016/j.plrev.2023.11.001 |
| 2022 | An Active Inference Ontology for Decentralized Science | Zenodo | 10.5281/zenodo.6320574 |
| 2022 | The Free Energy Principle & Active Inference: a Systematic Literature Analysis | Zenodo | 10.5281/zenodo.7449368 |
| 2021 | Active Inference in Modeling Conflict | Zenodo | 10.5281/zenodo.5759807 |
| 2020 | Active Inference & Behavior Engineering for Teams | Zenodo | 10.5281/zenodo.4021163 |
| 2018 | Of woodlice and men: A Bayesian account of cognition, life and consciousness (with Karl Friston) | ALIUS Bulletin | 10.34700/h460-nz89 |
Books, papers, and policy contributions on narrative security, memes, and trust (click to expand)
| Year | Title | Publisher | ISBN/DOI |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | Structuring the Information Commons: Open Standards and Cognitive Security | COGSEC.org | 978-1-7364269-3-7 |
| 2021 | Narrative Information Ecosystems: Conflict and Trust on the Endless Frontier | COGSEC.org | 978-1-7364269-2-0 |
| 2020 | The Great Preset: Remote Teams and Operational Art | COGSEC.org | 978-1-7364269-0-6 |
| Year | Title | Venue | DOI |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Cognitive Integrity Framework: Formal Foundations for Multiagent Security (Part 1: Theory) | Zenodo | 10.5281/zenodo.18364119 |
| 2024 | Bridging gaps in image meme research: A multidisciplinary paradigm | JASIS&T | 10.1002/asi.24900 |
| 2024 | Comments on National Digital Twins R&D Strategic Plan | Zenodo | 10.5281/zenodo.13273681 |
| 2024 | FarmWorks: Decentralized AI Agents for Personalized Solutions | Zenodo | 10.5281/zenodo.13754585 |
| 2023 | Cognitive Sovereignty & Active Inference in the State of Exception | Zenodo | 10.5281/zenodo.10038232 |
| 2023 | ATLAS: A Question Oriented Approach to Pattern Languages in Knowledge Management | Zenodo | 10.5281/zenodo.10296601 |
| 2023 | The P3IF: Properties, Processes, and Perspectives Inter-Framework | Zenodo | 10.5281/zenodo.10034512 |
| 2023 | Comments on AI Accountability Policy to NTIA | NTIA | 10.5281/zenodo.8025957 |
| 2023 | Open Access science needs Open Science Sensemaking (OSSm) | MetaArXiv | 10.31222/osf.io/9nb3u |
| 2022 | From Users to (Sense)Makers: Stigmergic Social Annotation | Hypertext '22 | 10.48550/arXiv.2205.06345 |
| 2022 | TrustFinder: Recommendations for Community-Based Trust Systems | Zenodo | 10.5281/zenodo.7093837 |
| 2022 | Systems Modeling and Cognitive Audits for Hypercert Ecosystems | Zenodo | 10.5281/zenodo.7626769 |
| 2021 | Narrative Information Management | Zenodo | 10.5281/zenodo.5573287 |
| 2021 | Digital Rhetorical Ecosystem Analysis: Sensemaking of Digital Memetic Discourse | Zenodo | 10.5281/zenodo.5573947 |
| 2020 | The Innovator's Catechism | Zenodo | 10.5281/zenodo.4383230 |
| 2020 | Emergent Teams for Complex Threats | Zenodo | 10.5281/zenodo.3986085 |
William Blake, Buckminster Fuller, visual art, and interdisciplinary philosophy (click to expand)
| Year | Title | Venue | DOI |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | The Doors of Perception are the Threshold of Prediction: Active Inference and William Blake's Theory of Seeing | Zenodo | Link |
| 2025 | On Cognitive Art & Science: Toward Wholeness From Both Sides | Zenodo | 10.5281/zenodo.16740439 |
| 2025 | Synthesis of Agent and Niche | Zenodo | 10.5281/zenodo.17235137 |
| 2025 | On Time | Zenodo | 10.5281/zenodo.15168381 |
| 2025 | QuadMath: An Analytical Review of 4D and Quadray Coordinates | Zenodo | 10.5281/zenodo.16887800 |
| 2025 | Symergetics: Symbolic Synergetics for Rational Arithmetic | Zenodo | 10.5281/zenodo.17114389 |
| 2024 | Four-fold Fields of Quantum Dreams | Zenodo | 10.5281/zenodo.10798145 |
| 2024 | Way Finding in the Infinite Imaginarium | Zenodo | 10.5281/zenodo.10601082 |
| 2024 | Writing on Curio Cards for the "On NFT" book | Taschen | 978-3-8365-9970-2 |
| 2023 | William Blake & Buckminster Fuller: Lives in Juxtaposition | Zenodo | 10.5281/zenodo.7514368 |
| 2022 | Predictive Processing Interpretation of the Mirror Test | Zenodo | 10.5281/zenodo.7377256 |
| 2018 | Partner Pen Play in Parallel (PPPiP): A New Paradigm for Relationship Improvement | Arts | 10.3390/arts7030039 |
Open-source tools, data pipelines, and formal methods (click to expand)
| Year | Title | Venue | DOI |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | The Discovery Engine: AI-Driven Synthesis and Navigation of Scientific Knowledge Landscapes | ArXiv | 10.48550/arXiv.2505.17500 |
| 2025 | ResNei: Solution Design Document | Zenodo | 10.5281/zenodo.15389682 |
| 2025 | MDKV: A Multitrack Markdown Container for Structured, Portable Documents | Zenodo | 10.5281/zenodo.16790554 |
| 2025 | Markdown Decision Process: A Framework for Probabilistic Document Analysis | Zenodo | 10.5281/zenodo.17244386 |
| 2025 | Adaptive Basic Income (AuBI): Integrating AI, Decentralized Infrastructure, and Active Inference | Zenodo | 10.5281/zenodo.17228945 |
| 2023 | Enhanced NSF Postdoctoral Reporting via Synthetic Intelligence Language Processing | Zenodo | 10.5281/zenodo.10160656 |
Institute snapshots, ecosystem maps, and organizational design (click to expand)
| Year | Title | Venue | DOI |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | The Active Inference Institute & Active Inference Ecosystem (v3, 2025 snapshot) | Zenodo | 10.5281/zenodo.14108991 |
| 2024 | The Active Inference Institute & Active Inference Ecosystem (v2, 2024 snapshot) | Zenodo | 10.5281/zenodo.14108991 |
| 2024 | Aligning Active Inference Ontology to SUMO | Zenodo | 10.5281/zenodo.11459322 |
| 2023 | The Active Inference Institute and Active Inference Ecosystem (v1) | Zenodo | 10.5281/zenodo.8266281 |
| 2022 | Catechism for Towards Active Diffusion | Zenodo | 10.5281/zenodo.7443848 |
Livestreams, conference talks, courses, and collaborative media (click to expand)
| Platform | Description | Link |
|---|---|---|
| Active Inference Journal | 500+ videos on Active Inference with transcripts | video.activeinference.institute |
| Personal YouTube | 200+ livestreams including drawings, Synergetics, paper discussions | youtube.com/@danielarifriedman |
| Year | Title | Platform |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Transcript of Chris Fields, "Physics as Information Processing" course | Zenodo |
| 2020 | How to use Keybase for remote teams | Udemy |
| 2020 | Communication for Remote Teams | Udemy |
| Year | Title | Venue |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Systems Processes, Active Inference, and Beyond | Zenodo |
| 2025 | 5th Applied Active Inference Symposium — Abstract Book | Zenodo |
| 2024 | MathArt Stream #8: William Blake and Active Inference | Zenodo |
| 2024 | Sensemaking Federation: Exploring the Frontiers of Digital Innovation | Zenodo |
| 2024 | BioFirm Development at Applied Active Inference Symposium 2024 | Zenodo |
| 2023 | Of Ants & Aging | Zenodo |
| 2023 | Postdoc review (2020–2023) | Zenodo |
| 2018 | MVEE: A Framework for Evolutionary Studies | Zenodo |
| Year | Title | Link |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | The Facilitator's Catechism Playbook | Zenodo |
| 2021 | Innovator's Digital Playbook | innovatorsdigitalplaybook.com |
Earlier work in genetics, radiation biology, and biomedical research (click to expand)
| Year | Title | Venue | DOI |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Why Paleolithic Rockstars were both enigmatic and sporadic | Physics of Life Reviews | 10.1016/j.plrev.2024.04.010 |
| 2023 | To comment or not to comment | Physics of Life Reviews | 10.1016/j.plrev.2023.06.002 |
| 2022 | On free will or the lack thereof (interview with Robert Sapolsky) | ALIUS Bulletin | 10.5281/zenodo.7394901 |
| 2020 | The neuroscience of decision making (interview with Timothy Hanks) | ALIUS Bulletin | 10.34700/8pg4-0h12 |
| 2019 | Dennett Explained (interview with Daniel Dennett) | ALIUS Bulletin | 10.34700/7gkw-zh08 |
| 2016 | Influence of Nuclear Structure on formation of radiation-induced lethal lesions | Int. J. Radiation Biology | 10.3109/09553002.2016.1144941 |
| 2015 | Could Ehrlichial Infection Cause Some Changes Associated with Leukemia? | Medical Hypotheses | 10.1016/j.mehy.2015.09.015 |
| 2015 | Large Scale Coding Sequence Change Underlies the Evolution of Post-developmental Novelty in Honey Bees | Molecular Biology & Evolution | 10.1093/molbev/msu292 |
| 2015 | Commentary: Portuguese crypto-Jews: the genetic heritage of a complex history | Frontiers in Genetics | 10.3389/fgene.2015.00261 |
Active Inference ──── Entomology ──── Cognitive Security
│ │ │
Bayesian Ant Colonies Information
Modeling Social Insects Ecosystems
│ │ │
Computational ──── Biology ──────── Digital Rhetoric
│ │ │
CEREBRUM, GNN Genetics COGSEC, P3IF
│ │ │
Synergetics ────── Ecology ─────── Decentralized
(Fuller, Blake) (Consciousness) Science (DeSci)
Karl Friston · Maxwell Ramstead · Deborah Gordon · Chris Fields · RJ Cordes · Axel Constant · Tim Linksvayer · Michael Levin · Scott David
