Since you mention VAEs: you might be interested in Active Inference, which is built on minimizing variational free energy. Same E−TS form as the thermodynamic kind (Helmholtz free energy), so it does fit your thermo/info/NN question. And the negative free energy is equivalent to the evidence lower bound used in generative models like VAEs. Lots of really fascinating connections between all of these topics :)
The link to the Amazon product looks like a non-affiliate link when you hover over it. But if you click, as soon as the mousedown event fires, they swap in an affiliate link. How rude!
Private equity seems to be a form of cancer that slowly sucks the life out of everything it touches, with a single goal: to grow and spread. Can someone more knowledgeable please explain to me why I'm wrong?
There's a free 2022 textbook: https://direct.mit.edu/books/oa-monograph/5299/Active-Infere...
And a brand new one (though it's a bit pricey): https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262050951/fundamentals-of-activ...