Just scanned this and subscribed to see more. Always interested in projects like this. I have just a couple of thots off the top:

* Prediction means anticipation - anticipatory systems (googles well). In the lowest animals, anticipation appears to come from innate behaviors - biochemistry; in higher animals, anticipation comes from models, some innate, mostly learned.

* A fun thing to think about is thinking itself, some of which is called "reflexive thinking"; that topic has been hot in the CS community since - at least - when Jon Doyle wrote a thesis proposal about "Reflexive Interpreters" in 1979, and remains a really tough nut to crack. But, without it, well, maybe a mind just isn't what it could be.