A Thousand Brains
A New Theory of Intelligence

A Thousand Brains is a mixed bag. The first half describes Hawkins' theory of how the neocortex works, and there's a great deal there that is appealing. As a theory, it's relatively simple and self-consistent, and it fits the available data, at least in broad strokes. The theory operates at an inter......more

I like this analogy: Imagine 50 people are invited to an evening party. Everyone arrives at the party at a randomly chosen time. When they get there, they open the door and step inside. What are the chances they see a party going on or an empty room? It depends on how long they each stay, If all the p......more

When Charles Darwin worked out the theory of evolution in the nineteenth century, he didn’t have all the details in which the theory would ultimately depend. After all, On the Origin of Species was published in 1859—a full 49 years before the term genetics was introduced and 94 years before the disc......more

I have mixed feelings about this book. Basically, I think that the broad stroke explanation for how the cortex works is a great summary and conveys the core ideas of reference frames, hierarchies, prediction, and action-based learning quickly and at an easy level of understanding. As a neuroscientis......more

This book begins by reviewing the parts of the brain and its evolution over time. The older parts of the human brain were developed to maintain life such as breathing, heart beating, fight or flight emotions, etc. The neocortex evolved later to provide the ability to perceive surroundings and the lo......more