No Way Out

Human-Agent Team of Teams: Active Inference AI & The Spatial Web w/ Dr. David Bray and Denise Holt


Listen Later

Send us a text

The technological paradigm we've grown accustomed to—with centralized AI models hallucinating answers and requiring massive energy consumption—is about to undergo a profound transformation. This fascinating conversation explores how active inference AI, inspired by the principles of biological intelligence, offers a fundamentally different approach that could reshape our technological landscape.

Dr. David Bray articulates the critical distinction between current AI systems that merely pattern-match based on past data versus the emerging active inference models that continuously predict, observe, and update their (Orientation) understanding of the world. These systems don't just regurgitate information; they develop mental models that allow them to navigate novelty and uncertainty just as our brains do. Meanwhile, Denise Holt explains how the newly ratified spatial web protocol creates the infrastructure for these distributed intelligence systems to operate across networks with shared context and meaning.

What makes this shift particularly compelling is its potential to restore human agency in technological systems. Rather than the surveillance capitalism model that has dominated recent decades, active inference AI within the spatial web framework enables pre-compute permissions and constraints, allowing individuals to specify what they want to happen (or not happen) with their digital identity. This represents a fundamental realignment of power dynamics in our technological future.

The implications extend beyond individual experience to organizational performance, national security, and global commerce. From detecting weak signals that might indicate emerging threats to managing complex adaptive systems like supply chains, this approach enables decentralized intelligence that can process informat

John R. Boyd's Conceptual Spiral was originally titled No Way Out. In his own words: 

“There is no way out unless we can eliminate the features just cited. Since we don’t know how to do this, we must continue the whirl of reorientation…”

March 25, 2025

Flow Learning Lab

Find us on X. @NoWayOutcast
Substack: The Whirl of ReOrientation

Want to develop your organization’s capacity for free and independent action (Organic Success)? Learn more and follow us at:
https://www.aglx.com/
https://www.youtube.com/@AGLXConsulting
https://www.linkedin.com/company/aglx-consulting-llc/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/briandrivera
https://www.linkedin.com/in/markjmcgrath1
https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevemccrone

Stay in the Loop. Don't have time to listen to the podcast? Want to make some snowmobiles? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to receive deeper insights on current and past episodes.
Recent podcasts where you’ll also find Mark and Ponch:

The No Bell Podcast Episode 24
...

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

No Way OutBy Mark McGrath and Brian "Ponch" Rivera

  • 4.6
  • 4.6
  • 4.6
  • 4.6
  • 4.6

4.6

39 ratings


More shows like No Way Out

View all
EconTalk by Russ Roberts

EconTalk

4,261 Listeners

Jocko Podcast by Jocko DEFCOR Network

Jocko Podcast

30,804 Listeners

War on the Rocks by Ryan Evans

War on the Rocks

1,070 Listeners

The Fifth Column by Kmele Foster, Michael Moynihan, and Matt Welch

The Fifth Column

2,880 Listeners

Modern War Institute by Modern War Institute at West Point

Modern War Institute

768 Listeners

The Proceedings Podcast by U.S. Naval Institute

The Proceedings Podcast

211 Listeners

Modern Wisdom by Chris Williamson

Modern Wisdom

3,938 Listeners

DarkHorse Podcast by Bret Weinstein & Heather Heying

DarkHorse Podcast

5,316 Listeners

Urban Warfare Project by John Spencer

Urban Warfare Project

227 Listeners

GoodFellows: Conversations from the Hoover Institution by Hoover Institution

GoodFellows: Conversations from the Hoover Institution

689 Listeners

Irregular Warfare Podcast by Irregular Warfare Initiative

Irregular Warfare Podcast

404 Listeners

School of War by Nebulous Media

School of War

471 Listeners

Honestly with Bari Weiss by The Free Press

Honestly with Bari Weiss

8,703 Listeners

The Foreign Affairs Interview by Foreign Affairs Magazine

The Foreign Affairs Interview

449 Listeners

The Winston Marshall Show by Winston Marshall

The Winston Marshall Show

431 Listeners