A Thousand Brains: A New Theory of Intelligence
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- Create Date：2021-11-25 09:21:10
- Update Date：2025-09-07
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- Author：Jeff Hawkins
- ISBN：1541675797
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Summary
One of the Financial TImes' Best Books of 2021
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。
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。
Reviews
Escalante
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Revelador como pocos。 Exquisito。
Jayne Lim
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Thought-provoking and very straightforwardly written
Kiel Mitchell
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A fairly low return book: I'd recommend his first appearance on the lex fridman podcast for an information dense introduction to his ideas （which I do think are potentially revolutionary）。 In this book， however， Hawkins spends far too much time humble bragging about predicting the smart phone and coming up with these ideas， poo-pooing AI safety fears without engaging with any of the core ideas of that field， and talking about his ideas for leaving post-extinction messages for future aliens; all A fairly low return book: I'd recommend his first appearance on the lex fridman podcast for an information dense introduction to his ideas （which I do think are potentially revolutionary）。 In this book， however， Hawkins spends far too much time humble bragging about predicting the smart phone and coming up with these ideas， poo-pooing AI safety fears without engaging with any of the core ideas of that field， and talking about his ideas for leaving post-extinction messages for future aliens; all things that we didn't come to this book for。 Jeff Hawkins brings a lot of the entrepreneur's tool kit to the science game; the good（creativity， drive） have done him service and the bad （Messiah-complex， inveterate generalism） have made this book somewhat tiresome。 。。。more
Alexander
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A Thousand Brains is made up of an inconsistent mishmash of ideas， varying in quality and profundity。 The parts of the book in which Hawkins talks about neuroscience are insightful， but everything else is parochial with a hint of arrogance。Hawkins offers a physiological grounding to theories that explain cognition as a process of modelling/inference。 It does this by presenting well-reasoned evidence proposing that each of the ~150k cortical columns in our brain contains a model of reality that t A Thousand Brains is made up of an inconsistent mishmash of ideas， varying in quality and profundity。 The parts of the book in which Hawkins talks about neuroscience are insightful， but everything else is parochial with a hint of arrogance。Hawkins offers a physiological grounding to theories that explain cognition as a process of modelling/inference。 It does this by presenting well-reasoned evidence proposing that each of the ~150k cortical columns in our brain contains a model of reality that together form our overall experience。"The brain creates a predictive model。 This just means that the brain continuously predicts what its inputs will be。 Prediction isn’t something that the brain does every now and then; it is an intrinsic property that never stops， and it serves an essential role in learning。 When the brain’s predictions are verified， that means the brain’s model of the world is accurate。 A misprediction causes you to attend to the error and update the model。" I thought that this was also very insightful:"How can I speak confidently about a theory if it hasn’t been tested experimentally？ I just described one of these situations。 I had an insight that the neocortex is infused with reference frames， and I immediately started talking about it with certainty。 [。。。] Here is why。As we work on a problem， we uncover what I call constraints。 Constraints are things that the solution to the problem must address。 [。。。] The longer you work on a problem， the more constraints you discover and the harder it becomes to imagine a solution。 The aha moments I described in this chapter were about problems that we worked on for years。 Therefore， we understood these problems deeply and our list of constraints was long。 The likelihood that a solution is correct increases exponentially with the number of constraints it satisfies。 It is like solving a crossword puzzle: There are often several words that match an individual clue。 If you pick one of those words， it could be wrong。 If you find two intersecting words that work， then it is much more likely they are both correct。 If you find ten intersecting words， the chance that they are all wrong is minuscule。" The first half is worth five stars， but the second half is worth one star， resulting in a three stars average。 。。。more
Sequoia
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Brilliant。 I thoroughly enjoyed the first part （the actual model）， maybe to a lesser degree for the other 2 parts -- but it's mainly because the first part spoiled me -- I wanted to read something as deeply explored， thought through and clearly explained。I will reread the first part and the suggested readings （the actual papers）。 I'm that interested。 I won't say I'm totally convinced by his theory of how human intelligence works -- but it's not that I found anything unlikely; it's more that I do Brilliant。 I thoroughly enjoyed the first part （the actual model）， maybe to a lesser degree for the other 2 parts -- but it's mainly because the first part spoiled me -- I wanted to read something as deeply explored， thought through and clearly explained。I will reread the first part and the suggested readings （the actual papers）。 I'm that interested。 I won't say I'm totally convinced by his theory of how human intelligence works -- but it's not that I found anything unlikely; it's more that I don't know enough experimental evidence to appreciate whether the theory has （as he has stated） "satisfied many constraints so the likelihood of being correct increases exponentially"。 I'd be more than interested to try to read more to decide for myself。Nevertheless， it's thought-provoking and I feel like everyone doing research or is interested in brain/intelligence will greatly enjoy the book。One thing I have a bit reservation is about the contrasting/conflicting roles he often puts "neocortex" and "old brain" at， much like he pitches "gene" and "knowledge" against each other （in part 3）。 Although the "the selfish gene" is also a book that deeply influenced me， I tend not to put these two against each other， most of the time。 But that's another topic。 。。。more
Alan Rominger
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By all means， this is a groundbreaking book。 The research Numenta is doing is potentially explosive。 This is a book surfacing what they're doing， and it does a good job。。。 but it's not perfect。The core conceptual framework is well-communicated。 The research details of cortical columns are very sufficient for a layman。 I felt a little bit of rigor slip away with the reference frames topic。 I felt more of the rigor slip away when it got to tie-ins with the old brain。Latter parts of the book diverg By all means， this is a groundbreaking book。 The research Numenta is doing is potentially explosive。 This is a book surfacing what they're doing， and it does a good job。。。 but it's not perfect。The core conceptual framework is well-communicated。 The research details of cortical columns are very sufficient for a layman。 I felt a little bit of rigor slip away with the reference frames topic。 I felt more of the rigor slip away when it got to tie-ins with the old brain。Latter parts of the book diverged entirely from the core premise and failed to offer much new in terms of speculation about the future。 I actually had relatively high expectations of this part， considering the author's background in tech。 。。。more
Roger March
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Kind of a mixed bag but enjoyable。 The science part presents a good theory。 I think it is far from settled as to how true it is。 Most of the book is really his philosophy and speculations。
Tanya
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Very easy to read， and a good summary of neuroscience development in the past decade。 The last chapters was a surprise to me though。
Heli
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Goodreads just lost my review and i have to rewrite it so I'll not be as neat that it would be nice。 He starts his book with signs of self-glorifying remarks。 I tried to ignore this and focus on the content so here's some of my notes about what I found wrong and what I appreciated。He developed a theory that he's "proven" because "he had this idea"。 He doesn't bring any explanation about how cortical columns are related to one another and how this intelligence etc emerges in there。 There's plenty Goodreads just lost my review and i have to rewrite it so I'll not be as neat that it would be nice。 He starts his book with signs of self-glorifying remarks。 I tried to ignore this and focus on the content so here's some of my notes about what I found wrong and what I appreciated。He developed a theory that he's "proven" because "he had this idea"。 He doesn't bring any explanation about how cortical columns are related to one another and how this intelligence etc emerges in there。 There's plenty of research about how different cortical column layers are related to other neurons regarding brain region。 He's covered none of it。His proof that this is how the brain works is based on that it worked on his computer model。He talks a lot about making predictions in the brain， but doesn't know or mark that new incoming sensory information specifies these predictions。 Having this gap makes his narrative about the brain less sense-making。He enthuses about what a big and unsolved problem it is that how does the brain predict what will it experience next。 I'd hate to break it for you， but it's been long discovered。 Once action plan is executed， the pattern that this action would make you sense is inhibited in the T， P and O lobes。 So if you do or experience something that you didn't plan nor predict， you'll take that sensory information into processing。 You have your feedback。 He misuses the word deduction in a context where maybe induction would be more suitable。 He assumes that people always know everything。 Considering how our concepts develop and change （sensory experience needed）， it is impossible。He， like many others before him， has not defined what he's talking about when he's using the word "consciousness"。 Also， he refuses to specify what are his premises that he holds and uses to come to the conclusions he does。One sense-making part he's got there is when he says that there are reference frames regarding the body。 Visual wise he makes it sound like it's outside of the body which can't make sense， but the body version makes sense。 So his one star is well earned。 Also I appreciate the part where he talks about that the peripheral neural connections prime the neuron to decide about a main pathway incoming signal。 In general， choose your next read wisely。 。。。more
Ryan Young
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the 1000 brain theory is excellent cutting edge neuroscience explained at a 3rd grade level。 unfortunately this is a tiny part of the book。 i hear he has some videos so maybe just watch the ones about cortical columns and their implications for the future of general AI。
Amber
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5/5I am fascinated by brain science so this is exactly the type of thing I would love， and I did love it。 I loved how the information was presented so that someone like me， who doesn't do brain research， could understand what was being told。 I agree with the conclusions presented in the end as well， if we can know the brain we can know ourselves and ultimately understand the greater universe 。 Very smart and concise while also being entertaining and thought provoking。 5/5I am fascinated by brain science so this is exactly the type of thing I would love， and I did love it。 I loved how the information was presented so that someone like me， who doesn't do brain research， could understand what was being told。 I agree with the conclusions presented in the end as well， if we can know the brain we can know ourselves and ultimately understand the greater universe 。 Very smart and concise while also being entertaining and thought provoking。 。。。more
dsreads
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Probably should have just been a paper。 And it probably is already many papersBut I found the minute details of extremely mundane processes like spatial awareness pretty boring。I realize Jeff Hawkins & team are the cutting edge of this field too， and the reason I found this book boring is probably because I knew about his actual discoveries。 So it's kind of self defeating to criticize this book。 But that's just me。 I'm sure others will find it fascinating， and it does pick up a bit in the second Probably should have just been a paper。 And it probably is already many papersBut I found the minute details of extremely mundane processes like spatial awareness pretty boring。I realize Jeff Hawkins & team are the cutting edge of this field too， and the reason I found this book boring is probably because I knew about his actual discoveries。 So it's kind of self defeating to criticize this book。 But that's just me。 I'm sure others will find it fascinating， and it does pick up a bit in the second half。 。。。more
Nelson Zagalo
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"A Thousand Brains: A New Theory of Intelligence" （2021）， tinha tudo para ser um grande livro， acaba por ser mera montra de ideias， e algumas delas com sérias deficiências。 Apesar disso， a teorização proposta por Jeff Hawkins é interessantíssima， só requer que se leia com uma boa bagagem sobre o cérebro， consciência e emoção por forma a garantir suficientes competências ao pensamento crítico necessário à leitura。 Aliás， essa mesma bagagem acaba por se revelar em falta em Hawkins o que responde p "A Thousand Brains: A New Theory of Intelligence" （2021）， tinha tudo para ser um grande livro， acaba por ser mera montra de ideias， e algumas delas com sérias deficiências。 Apesar disso， a teorização proposta por Jeff Hawkins é interessantíssima， só requer que se leia com uma boa bagagem sobre o cérebro， consciência e emoção por forma a garantir suficientes competências ao pensamento crítico necessário à leitura。 Aliás， essa mesma bagagem acaba por se revelar em falta em Hawkins o que responde por alguns dos problemas da sua discussão。 Hawkins é uma pessoa peculiar， foi capaz de fundar a Palm em 1992 e criar o antecessor do smartphone， mas ao mesmo tempo nunca conseguiu integrar-se na academia， justificando que esta nunca foi capaz de compreender a sua visão。 Mais recentemente fundou a sua própria empresa de neurociências e IA， a Numenta。。。。。。。 continua no blog:https://virtual-illusion。blogspot。com。。。 。。。more
Louis
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In the first half of the book， Dawkin gives some context on neuroscience and explains his theory about how the brain stores information and models the world using reference frames。 I have to admit that this was a bit outside of my comfort zone， but I feel like I came out with many useful bits and pieces of neuroscience and how they relate （ba dum tss） to other areas。After this， the author attempts to "apply" neuroscience to other areas。 This is fine as long as he stays within his area of experti In the first half of the book， Dawkin gives some context on neuroscience and explains his theory about how the brain stores information and models the world using reference frames。 I have to admit that this was a bit outside of my comfort zone， but I feel like I came out with many useful bits and pieces of neuroscience and how they relate （ba dum tss） to other areas。After this， the author attempts to "apply" neuroscience to other areas。 This is fine as long as he stays within his area of expertise （relating neuroscience to AI）， but the further he veers off， the less original ideas he produces。 Although he throws in his expertise every once in a while， he mostly recites a futuristic literature review。 If you're interested， I'd recommend a physical book rather than an audiobook or kindle version since there are quite a few illustrations。 。。。more
Paulina Przyborowska
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Simply written and easy-to-understand。 Reading it felt like sitting down with an old wise family member during dinner and having a chat about his theories， discoveries， and revelations on the neocortex and what the future holds for intelligent life。
Jeff
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This is a review of some of the physical processes that happen in our brains that lead to our experience of consciousness。 There are quite a few interesting topics here， but some of the leaps of logic seem unsupported。 I felt like most of the book rehashed the semantics of how to describe mental processes。 In that regards， this is more a book of mind philosophy than mind science。 Maybe I'm missing something， but the concept of reference frames is really not different from the concept of invarian This is a review of some of the physical processes that happen in our brains that lead to our experience of consciousness。 There are quite a few interesting topics here， but some of the leaps of logic seem unsupported。 I felt like most of the book rehashed the semantics of how to describe mental processes。 In that regards， this is more a book of mind philosophy than mind science。 Maybe I'm missing something， but the concept of reference frames is really not different from the concept of invariant representations that Hawkins described over 15 years ago in On Intelligence。 。。。more
Rob
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Summary of my review:- a well written enjoyable book- with an important new theory- on the most interesting aspect of a unique species- that may push forward Varki’s MORT theory on why we exist- by a brilliant polymath- that is blinded by the same denial that created his speciesMy complete review:https://un-denial。com/2021/04/16/deni。。。 Summary of my review:- a well written enjoyable book- with an important new theory- on the most interesting aspect of a unique species- that may push forward Varki’s MORT theory on why we exist- by a brilliant polymath- that is blinded by the same denial that created his speciesMy complete review:https://un-denial。com/2021/04/16/deni。。。 。。。more
Aaron
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Nice catch-all theory on how the 'human' brain is dominated by the neocortex， and that consciousness is essentially a labyrinth of overlapping and interweaving 'reference frames'。 We are living in a simulation after all， goes the theory here - and it's a simulation of our own organic making。 Nice catch-all theory on how the 'human' brain is dominated by the neocortex， and that consciousness is essentially a labyrinth of overlapping and interweaving 'reference frames'。 We are living in a simulation after all， goes the theory here - and it's a simulation of our own organic making。 。。。more
Laurie Mercer
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Fascinating overview， the intersection of neuroscience and artificial intelligence。 The conclusion reads as a forward looking manifesto for intelligence and intelligent beings。
Davide Aversa
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The book is divided into three parts。 The first is about the Brain， the second is about Machine Intelligence， and the third about the future existential threats that humanity will face。 The first part is illuminating。 The second one is very interesting: I don’t agree with everything but it is a must read for the future of Artificial Intelligence。 The third part is a bit at odd with the rest of the bot。 It is an interesting collection of discussion point。 It is definitely worth reading but there The book is divided into three parts。 The first is about the Brain， the second is about Machine Intelligence， and the third about the future existential threats that humanity will face。 The first part is illuminating。 The second one is very interesting: I don’t agree with everything but it is a must read for the future of Artificial Intelligence。 The third part is a bit at odd with the rest of the bot。 It is an interesting collection of discussion point。 It is definitely worth reading but there is no real insight。 There are a lot of speculations on the far future that should be taken with abundant grains of salt。 They are not farfetched， let’s be clear， but every time we try to talk about more than 100 years in the future we are very likely to go in “total speculation mode”。 Moreover， I can see that the first two parts came from the expertise of the author， while the third not。 Anyway， it is a book I really recommended。 。。。more
K。 Ira
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Awesome concepts， there's some places he could take this still。 He may be on the fringe of some important findings。Or he could be wrong。。。 Lol Awesome concepts， there's some places he could take this still。 He may be on the fringe of some important findings。Or he could be wrong。。。 Lol 。。。more
Ashish Sekhri
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Brilliant exposition of a supremely interesting theory of intelligence！ The author takes the reader on an amazing journey of the interiors of human mind， laying out a theory of how it works， how it forms a model of the world， how it acts upon it。 While the neurobiology of the brain forms a backdrop of this exposition， the author doesn't get the reader lost into the inner workings of the brain。 The focus is on only certain aspects of the brains which are necessary to explain this theory of intell Brilliant exposition of a supremely interesting theory of intelligence！ The author takes the reader on an amazing journey of the interiors of human mind， laying out a theory of how it works， how it forms a model of the world， how it acts upon it。 While the neurobiology of the brain forms a backdrop of this exposition， the author doesn't get the reader lost into the inner workings of the brain。 The focus is on only certain aspects of the brains which are necessary to explain this theory of intelligence。 So the book doesn't need any deep understanding of brain's biology。What you take away from the book is a sense of awe at how this mass of grey cells goes about guiding the most banal of things like walking to the complex of thoughts such as mathematical reasoning。 The really interesting part of the theory explains how the seat of the higher thinking - the neocortex - is remarkably undifferentiated in its various parts that deal with sight， sound， touch， higher reasoning etc。 The author thus explains how remarkably similar each of the different aspects of the intelligence really is。 To anyone who is intrigued by the inner workings of the mind and nature of conscious thought， but doesn't have the biological background， the book is a must read。 。。。more
Alex M。 Bendersky
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Terrific！ Thought provoking and innovative。
Clayton Ellis
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I took so many notes here。 It complemented the Spike book。
Sean T Fitzgerald
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Brains in space！ Quite the left turn at the end， but enjoyable。
Tom Walsh
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Interesting discussion， not quite as revolutionary as describedI’m not sure that Hawkins has discovered a description of Brain function never thought of before。 I have read other books positing very similar theories of the way the Brain combines sensory inputs with processing by the Neo Cortex。This line of research is where we will ultimately come to understand this incredible machine: the Brain， so I’m not criticizing this work。 More thinking like this is exactly what we need。 My concern may al Interesting discussion， not quite as revolutionary as describedI’m not sure that Hawkins has discovered a description of Brain function never thought of before。 I have read other books positing very similar theories of the way the Brain combines sensory inputs with processing by the Neo Cortex。This line of research is where we will ultimately come to understand this incredible machine: the Brain， so I’m not criticizing this work。 More thinking like this is exactly what we need。 My concern may also be a product of my reaction to the tone of the author’s words。 There is an arrogance and self-satisfaction that I shrink from。 Whether this tone arises from the written word or the tone the narrator has taken in this audiobook is a question in my mind。Some of Hawkins/Dawkins proposals for the direction future Human choices are unsatisfying， but they do claim their purpose is to provoke thought and discussion。 I guess they have achieved their goals。 They have made me think。 That’s a good thing。 。。。more
Adam
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Tbh even if I had a thousand brains I'd still want this book to end。 cool titlethe very act of thinking is a form of movementwhy does pain have to be so dam painfulfar more than I can summarizeneocortex is a huge part of the brainvision and language are fundamentally the sameacquisition bingelife is about replication Tbh even if I had a thousand brains I'd still want this book to end。 cool titlethe very act of thinking is a form of movementwhy does pain have to be so dam painfulfar more than I can summarizeneocortex is a huge part of the brainvision and language are fundamentally the sameacquisition bingelife is about replication 。。。more
Thane Blinman
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Sometimes new ideas have an air of crackpottery。。。。and sometimes they have the air of "essentiality"。 The Selfish Gene is an example of the latter。 This book is too。 His theory， essentially that nature must have used some "one trick" over and over to create the complexity of the human mind "feels" right。 A brilliant and thoughtful book。 Sometimes new ideas have an air of crackpottery。。。。and sometimes they have the air of "essentiality"。 The Selfish Gene is an example of the latter。 This book is too。 His theory， essentially that nature must have used some "one trick" over and over to create the complexity of the human mind "feels" right。 A brilliant and thoughtful book。 。。。more
E。A。 Amant
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For a review of A Thousand Brains （in a sense） see my article， A Single Mind from a Thousand Brains， https://www。eastamant。com/article。php。。。 there are no cookies， advertisements of any sort， nor tracking on my site: it is just a site for free intellectual inquiry。 For a review of A Thousand Brains （in a sense） see my article， A Single Mind from a Thousand Brains， https://www。eastamant。com/article。php。。。 there are no cookies， advertisements of any sort， nor tracking on my site: it is just a site for free intellectual inquiry。 。。。more
Rafael Manzoni
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