A Thousand Brains
A New Theory of Intelligence
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4.4 • 75 Ratings
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
A bestselling author, neuroscientist, and computer engineer unveils a theory of intelligence that will revolutionize our understanding of the brain and the future of AI.
For all of neuroscience's advances, we've made little progress on its biggest question: How do simple cells in the brain create intelligence?
Jeff Hawkins and his team discovered that the brain uses maplike structures to build a model of the world—not just one model, but hundreds of thousands of models of everything we know. This discovery allows Hawkins to answer important questions about how we perceive the world, why we have a sense of self, and the origin of high-level thought.
A Thousand Brains heralds a revolution in the understanding of intelligence. It is a big-think book, in every sense of the word.
One of the Financial Times' Best Books of 2021
One of Bill Gates' Five Favorite Books of 2021
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Hawkins (On Intelligence), inventor of the PalmPilot, explicates his theories of how the brain works in this revelatory survey of human intelligence. He begins with the cell, explaining that individual cells work together in the brain to create intelligence (which, Hawkins writes, spans from "basic sensory functions to the highest forms of intellectual ability") before moving on to a consideration of how the brain's neocortex works. Hawkins's central idea, the thousand brains theory, is that "the entire world is learned: as a complex hierarchy of objects located relative to other objects." Extending beyond human intellect, Hawkins discusses artificial intelligence, which he writes falls short of human intelligence because of the narrow limits constraining the operations of even the smartest machines. In his most daring section, he argues that serious consideration should be given to using intelligent machines to preserve human knowledge, which would enable information to persist and be distributed throughout the galaxy, long after the death of the last human. The complex concepts are presented as simply as possible, but they aren't dumbed down and demand focus. Readers who persist will find Hawkins's study is full of thought-provoking arguments.
Customer Reviews
Just great.
Very useful to understand how our brains learn. And even more useful to debate what the future may hold.
Worth the read
Very thought provoking read. The author introduces many different areas of exploration that ignite self-reflection and understanding of intelligence, primal thought and what the future may bring.