Bridging Scales: Energy-Flow Cosmology and the Free Energy Principle as Complementary Entropy Frameworks

AbstractThis work presents a formally constrained bridge between the Free Energy Principle and Energy Flow Cosmology, linking variational free energy to measurable energy flow dynamics across entropy gradients. We introduce an effective energy flow field with explicit dimensional meaning and show that a blanket integrated scalar quantity is compatible with the extremization structure of variational free energy under non equilibrium steady state conditions.Within this framework, Markov blankets are reinterpreted as physical energy flow interfaces, characterized by zero flux or extremal gradient conditions. All core quantities are explicitly defined, dimensionally verified, and associated with clear falsification criteria. A resonance parameter, empirically motivated and explicitly non universal by assumption, is proposed as a stability threshold for self organizing structures, while an effective temperature is operationalized via fluctuation dissipation relations.The result is a theory constrained and empirically testable framework that reframes the Free Energy Principle as an energetically grounded and scale consistent analysis tool rather than a purely information theoretic principle. No claims of empirical confirmation are made. Instead, the work defines a minimal set of falsifiable predictions and measurement protocols that enable systematic empirical evaluation across biological, artificial, and physical systems.