  This review motivates and synthesizes research efforts in
neuroscience-inspired artificial intelligence and biomimetic computing in terms
of mortal computation. Specifically, we characterize the notion of mortality by
recasting ideas in biophysics, cybernetics, and cognitive science in terms of a
theoretical foundation for sentient behavior. We frame the mortal computation
thesis through the Markov blanket formalism and the circular causality entailed
by inference, learning, and selection. The ensuing framework -- underwritten by
the free energy principle -- could prove useful for guiding the construction of
unconventional connectionist computational systems, neuromorphic intelligence,
and chimeric agents, including sentient organoids, which stand to revolutionize
the long-term future of embodied, enactive artificial intelligence and
cognition research.
