{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,4]],"date-time":"2025-11-04T11:18:18Z","timestamp":1762255098914,"version":"build-2065373602"},"reference-count":66,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"5","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,5,14]],"date-time":"2025-05-14T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1747180800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"VERSES"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Entropy"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Power operates across multiple scales, from physical action to complex social dynamics, and is constrained by fundamental principles. In the social realm, power is shaped by interactions and cognitive capacity: socially-facilitated empowerment enhances an agent\u2019s information-processing ability, either by delegating tasks or leveraging collective resources. This computational advantage expands access to policies and buffers against vulnerabilities, amplifying an individual\u2019s or group\u2019s influence. In AIF, social power emerges from the capacity to attract attention and process information effectively. Our semantic habitat\u2014narratives, ideologies, representations, etc.\u2014functions through attentional scripts that coordinate social behavior. Shared scripts shape power dynamics by structuring collective attention. Speculative scripts serve as cognitive tools for low-risk learning, allowing agents to explore counterfactuals and refine predictive models. However, dominant scripts can reinforce misinformation, echo chambers, and power imbalances by directing collective attention toward self-reinforcing policies. We argue that power through scripts stems not only from associations with influential agents but also from the ability to efficiently process information, creating a feedback loop of increasing influence. This reframes power beyond traditional material and cultural dimensions, towards an informational and computational paradigm\u2014what we term possibilistic power, i.e., the capacity to explore and shape future trajectories. Understanding these mechanisms has critical implications for political organization and technological foresight.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/e27050522","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,5,14]],"date-time":"2025-05-14T10:27:41Z","timestamp":1747218461000},"page":"522","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["The Physics and Metaphysics of Social Powers: Bridging Cognitive Processing and Social Dynamics, a New Perspective on Power Through Active Inference"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"27","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0916-4645","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Mahault","family":"Albarracin","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"VERSES.ai, Los Angeles, CA 90016, USA"},{"name":"D\u00e9partement d\u2019informatique, Universit\u00e9 du Qu\u00e9bec \u00e0 Montr\u00e9al, Montr\u00e9al, QC H3C 3P8, Canada"},{"name":"Institut de Sante et Societe, Universit\u00e9 du Qu\u00e9bec \u00e0 Montr\u00e9al, Montr\u00e9al, QC H3C 3P8, Canada"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4196-2698","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Sonia","family":"de Jager","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Erasmus School of Philosophy, Erasmus University, 3062 PA Rotterdam, The Netherlands"},{"name":"Noise Research Union (NRU)"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9726-3509","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"David","family":"Hyland","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Computer Science, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 2JD, UK"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,5,14]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"Foucault, M. 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