A Thousand Brains Introduces a Novel Theory of Intelligence
AnonTechie writes:
Book Announcement:
A Thousand Brains: A New Theory of Intelligence (Basic Books), a book released this week by Numenta co-founder Jeff Hawkins, introduces a theory that will revolutionize our understanding of the brain and AI.
A Thousand Brains is divided into three parts. In Part 1, Hawkins describes the new theory and the neuroscience behind it. In Part 2, he explains how this theory will lead to truly intelligent machines. Finally, in Part 3, Hawkins describes how a deep understanding of intelligence and AI will affect the future of humanity.
Core to the theory is the surprising notion that the brain does not contain one model of the world; it contains thousands of complementary models for everything we know. The models vote together to produce our singular perception.
Richard Dawkins, who wrote the foreword, describes this idea as follows: "Hawkins is, I think, the first to give eloquent space to the idea that there is not one such model but thousands, one in each of the many neatly stacked columns that constitute the brain's cortex. Not the least fascinating of his ideas...is that cortical columns, in their world-modeling activities, work semi-autonomously. What we perceive is a kind of democratic consensus from among them. Democracy in the brain? Consensus, and even dispute? What an amazing idea."
Also at: Business Wire
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