# the predictive mind chapters 7 and 8 **Opening (not a real abstract):** Precarious prediction Perception and action are driven by the simple imperative to minimize prediction error. This occurs in the perceptual hierarchy described in Part I. Even though the core idea is simple, the mechanism comes with a number of different ways to minimize error. That is, prediction error minimization is not just a matter of prediction that P and then waiting to see if P occurs. Not only is there the difference between perceptual inference and active inference, but there are also considerations of precision and complexity, and everything can occur at different levels of the hierarchy and in different contexts of causal interactions and levels of uncertainty. This chapter explores some of the many different ways we must tend to these various, interacting aspects of prediction error minimization in order to **Authors:** [[hohwy]]