I think a more specific denominator you might wanna look into is free energy minimization as you mention in your first example. I really liked reading Active Inference and What Is Life? on the subject.
I'm working on something tangentially related [1] but by sourcing my Google search history data. It's surprising how LLaMA 3.1 8B is pulling most of the weight in my case too.
Off-topic: I really reasonate with with an old comment of yours, ID 32330140. Commenting here as I couldn't find any another way of contacting you, could you send me an email? Thanks