Jonathan Shock
Department of Mathematics and Applied Mathematics, University of Cape Town
Builder The claim is about what the hardware does, and the philosophy is left open
Jonathan Shock is an associate professor in the Department of Mathematics and Applied Mathematics at the University of Cape Town, with research spanning theoretical physics, neural network dynamics, and computational neuroscience. At UCT he co-leads interdisciplinary work connecting mathematical formalisms from statistical mechanics and Bayesian inference to neurobiological accounts of affect and homeostasis.
With St John Grimbly, Benjamin Rosman, Ryan Smith, and Mark Solms, Shock co-authored the October 2026 paper “Two Routes to Interoceptive Prioritisation: Preference Reweighting and Likelihood Precision in Multi-Need Homeostatic Agents” (arXiv:2610.18617). The study demonstrates a structural trade-off in online bodily model learning, showing that drive-based preference reweighting keeps an agent away from lethal states at the cost of narrower state coverage, whereas interoceptive likelihood precision routing sharpens posterior state estimation without sacrificing full-range body model quality.
His profile is Builder, anchoring the mathematical and simulation bridge between Solms’s clinical brainstem theory and formal active inference.
Known for. Mathematical physics and computational neuroscience of active inference, multi-need homeostatic agency, neural dynamics
Coverage on this site
Related researchers
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Mark SolmsUniversity of Cape TownNeuropsychoanalysis, and the brainstem account of affective consciousness
- Ryan SmithLaureate Institute for Brain Research. University of TulsaComputational psychiatry and active inference models of emotional awareness, interoceptive inference, hierarchical models of conscious access and affect
- St John GrimblyDepartment of Computer Science, University of Cape TownAffectWorld multi-need active inference environment, two routes to interoceptive prioritisation (preference reweighting and likelihood precision)
- Benjamin RosmanSchool of Computer Science and Applied Mathematics, University of the WitwatersrandReinforcement learning and decision-making in multi-need agents, skill composition, active inference homeostatic prioritisation
- Karl FristonUniversity College London. Chief Scientist, VERSES AIThe free energy principle and active inference
- Vikas AgnihotriIndependent Aerospace and Neuromorphic Systems ResearcherNeuromorphic Satellite Intelligence framework, radiation-induced energy overhead model for spiking neural hardware, constrained on-orbit STDP
Jonathan Shock is listed with the other builders, who hold that the claim is about what the hardware does, and the philosophy is left open. The positions themselves are set out in the index of consciousness theories. Every researcher covered on this site is indexed in the directory of consciousness researchers.