A Brief History of Intelligence: Evolution, AI, and the Five Breakthroughs That Made Our Brains
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- Type：Epub+TxT+PDF+Mobi
- Create Date：2023-10-25 05:21:37
- Update Date：2025-09-06
- Status：finish
- Author：Max Solomon Bennett
- ISBN：0063286343
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Summary
Equal parts Sapiens ， Behave， and Superintelligence ， but wholly original in scope， A Brief History of Intelligence offers a paradigm shift for how we understand neuroscience and AI。 Artificial intelligence entrepreneur Max Bennett chronicles the five “breakthroughs” in the evolution of human intelligence and reveals what brains of the past can tell us about the AI of tomorrow。 In the last decade， capabilities of artificial intelligence that had long been the realm of science fiction have， for the first time， become our reality。 AI is now able to produce original art， identify tumors in pictures， and even steer our cars。 And yet， large gaps remain in what modern AI systems can achieve—indeed， human brains still easily perform intellectual feats that we can’t replicate in AI systems。 How is it possible that AI can beat a grandmaster at chess but can’t effectively load a dishwasher？ As AI entrepreneur Max Bennett compellingly argues， finding the answer requires diving into the billion-year history of how the human brain evolved; a history filled with countless half-starts， calamities， and clever innovations。 Not only do our brains have a story to tell—the future of AI may depend on it。 Now， in A Brief History of Intelligence ， Bennett bridges the gap between neuroscience and AI to tell the brain’s evolutionary story， revealing how understanding that story can help shape the next generation of AI breakthroughs。 Deploying a fresh perspective and working with the support of many top minds in neuroscience， Bennett consolidates this immense history into an approachable new framework， identifying the “Five Breakthroughs” that mark the brain’s most important evolutionary leaps forward。 Each breakthrough brings new insight into the biggest mysteries of human intelligence。 Containing fascinating corollaries to developments in AI， A Brief History of Intelligence shows where current AI systems have matched or surpassed our brains， as well as where AI systems still fall short。 Simply put， until AI systems successfully replicate each part of our brain’s long journey， AI systems will fail to exhibit human-like intelligence。 Endorsed and lauded by many of the top neuroscientists in the field today， Bennett’s work synthesizes the most relevant scientific knowledge and cutting-edge research into an easy-to-understand and riveting evolutionary story。 With sweeping scope and stunning insights， A Brief History of Intelligence proves that understanding the arc of our brain’s history can unlock the tools for successfully navigating our technological future。
Reviews
Sr
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This is a fascinating book that not just explains our past but also illuminates the present moment。 The author guides us over complicated terrain with clarity and wit， highly recommend。
Andrea Wenger
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Though AI has made impressive advances， it still falls well short of replicating human cognition。 This book connects neuroscience and AI by exploring the billion-year evolution of the human brain。 It identifies Five Breakthroughs marking leaps in human intelligence， which provide a map for navigating our technological future。I LOVED this book。 It does more to unravel the mysteries of the human mind than anything I've read before。 The narrative is interesting and easy to read。 If you have any int Though AI has made impressive advances， it still falls well short of replicating human cognition。 This book connects neuroscience and AI by exploring the billion-year evolution of the human brain。 It identifies Five Breakthroughs marking leaps in human intelligence， which provide a map for navigating our technological future。I LOVED this book。 It does more to unravel the mysteries of the human mind than anything I've read before。 The narrative is interesting and easy to read。 If you have any interest at all in how intelligence and learning have evolved over the past billion years， this book is a must-read。Thanks， NetGalley， for the ARC I received。 This is my honest and voluntary review。 。。。more
Laurence
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Both the digestable relation that Max Bennett uses as well as the imagery chosen， make this topic attainable for a lament to understand and enjoy。 After only a few pages I've begun to question where our current technological advancement in AI is leading us。 I'm hopeful that by reading this book I'll gain a better understanding of what's to come。 Both the digestable relation that Max Bennett uses as well as the imagery chosen， make this topic attainable for a lament to understand and enjoy。 After only a few pages I've begun to question where our current technological advancement in AI is leading us。 I'm hopeful that by reading this book I'll gain a better understanding of what's to come。 。。。more
Matthew Rosenbaum
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I’ve never been as impressed with the abilities of the human brain as I was after reading this book。 Bennett deftly combines history， science and philosophy to paint a compelling picture of the billions of tiny decisions， discoveries， and coincidences that got humanity to this point。 His knowledge and understanding of any one of these areas would be impressive。 His mastery of all three is a testament to the subject of his book。Bennett leads the reader on a journey through the evolution of the mi I’ve never been as impressed with the abilities of the human brain as I was after reading this book。 Bennett deftly combines history， science and philosophy to paint a compelling picture of the billions of tiny decisions， discoveries， and coincidences that got humanity to this point。 His knowledge and understanding of any one of these areas would be impressive。 His mastery of all three is a testament to the subject of his book。Bennett leads the reader on a journey through the evolution of the mind， starting with the most basic organisms and working up the food chain。 He divides this journey into five breakthroughs linking animals， humans and A。I。 He doesn’t just show us how and why we got here， but consistently points out our similarities， lest we forget that we’re not as different from what came before， or what’s coming after， as we thought。 You’ll leave with a new understanding from everything from the Rat to the Roomba and the brains and systems that control them both。 Bennett writes that he wrote the book because he wanted to read it。 If he enjoyed it reading it as much as I did， it was definitely worth the effort。 。。。more
Max Wenneker
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Bennett’s exceptional writing combined with his thorough research make for a fantastic read。 Highly recommend！
Stetson
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A Brief History of Intelligence is another "big history" book。 Instead of following human history （Sapiens）， Western socioeconomic success （Guns， Germs， and Steel， Why Nations Fail， The WEIRDest People in the World）， political history （The End of History） or genetic history （Who We Are and How We Got Here）， we are treated to the evolution of the intelligence via the human brain。 And although this book has several competitors in this space， it benefits from its comprehensive scope and framing。Max A Brief History of Intelligence is another "big history" book。 Instead of following human history （Sapiens）， Western socioeconomic success （Guns， Germs， and Steel， Why Nations Fail， The WEIRDest People in the World）， political history （The End of History） or genetic history （Who We Are and How We Got Here）， we are treated to the evolution of the intelligence via the human brain。 And although this book has several competitors in this space， it benefits from its comprehensive scope and framing。Max Bennett， an entrepreneur in artificial intelligence， divides his book into two parallel tracks。 1） Describe the five major breakthroughs in the evolution of human intelligences and 2） compare those breakthroughs with the current state of knowledge and history of artificial intelligence。 I imagine part of the exigence of this book was for Bennett to collect and organize knowledge on human intelligence in order to leverage this knowledge to advance his work in the field of AI。 Because of this， the earlier portions of the narrative are more robust。 Some of this is also owed to the fact that current AI techniques don't recapitulate the higher functions of the human brain but rely on more primitive approaches。 Plus， I imagine he has kept some of his more tantalizing ideas out of the book。 Bennett's prose lacks the verve and panache of many of the other sweeping works that his competes in scale with， but this isn't particularly surprising given his youth。 This is also a debut work。 Nonetheless， Bennett delivers an eminently digestible narrative that tightly organized。 He tames what in reality is an unwieldy subject， and he does so without any glibness or embarrassing oversimplifications。 Bennett's strength as a writer appears to be organization and distillation。 He drills down to essential insights on the evolutionary neurobiology， draws out the AI takeaways and comparisons， recaps and then moves on。 It's shoe-leather science communication。 For those interested in the capacity of the brain and the origins of intelligence， Bennett has saved readers a great deal of time by assembling this book。 When it comes to the five evolutionary breakthroughs， Bennett's insights are not mind-bogglingly clever or original。 Every hard-working undergraduate in evolutionary biology will have come to some of the same conclusions over their coursework and reading。 However， I don't want to sell Bennett short。 His framing is cleverly clear and in the context of developments in AI， very topical。 So what are these breakthroughs in neurobiology and how did intelligence result？ First， the very ancient common ancestors of human， bilaterians， needed a way to navigate the environment。 Thus， a nervous system capable of steering emerged。 Second， these early organisms had to figure out where they could obtain resources and how they could avoid predation。 So another adaption emerged， reinforcement learning。 The nervous system encoded valence into stimuli from the environment （food = good， predatory = bad， etc）。 As the evolutionary arms war between predator and prey heated up over time， the brains of ancestral species developed a way of simulating events: If I turn this way， I might find food but if I turn the other way， I may find danger。 This sort of thing。 At this level， primitive brains were beginning to model the world around in order to learn from it。 Once modeling the world took off， brains started to model themselves。 The striking thing is there is good evidence for this recursive process occurring well before humans。 Bennet likes to repeat that human brains are simply scaled up chimp brains。 And then the final breakthrough and probably the most obvious one is language。 The ability to symbolically label and standardize inter-individual exchange with grammar enabled the accumulation and distribution of knowledge （culture）。 There are still a lot of questions that both Bennett and science have left unanswered， but this broad framework is sense-making in productive ways。 I think a lot of reader can benefit from the book。 Even myself， as someone with graduate-level training in neuroscience， genetics and the like still found a lot of the work interesting and compelling。 The later portions of the book were less robust， and it would have behooved the work to be a bit more rigorous citations and endnotes。 It would have also helped to have a more precise definition of intelligence to return to as the narrative progressed。 But overall， I'm happy to recommend this one to anyone interested in the evolution of the brain and its relationship to advancements in artificial intelligence。Comprehensive Review at Substack 。。。more
Kasia Hubbard
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