A Thousand Brains: A New Theory of Intelligence
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- Create Date：2021-03-25 11:36:00
- Update Date：2025-09-06
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- Author：Jeff Hawkins
- ISBN：1541675819
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Summary
An author， neuroscientist， and computer engineer unveils a theory of intelligence， of understanding 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。
Reviews
Richard Thompson
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I really liked the Thousand Brain theory of how the mind works -- multiple parallel columns that contain models of the world with different objects/concepts held in reference frames that resolve into a single concept by a voting mechanism。 It rang true， but would have been even more convincing if Mr。 Hawkins had given us a bit more scienctific rigor in describing the basis for his conclusions。 I understand that it is supposed to be a book for a popular audience but he could have dug a little dee I really liked the Thousand Brain theory of how the mind works -- multiple parallel columns that contain models of the world with different objects/concepts held in reference frames that resolve into a single concept by a voting mechanism。 It rang true， but would have been even more convincing if Mr。 Hawkins had given us a bit more scienctific rigor in describing the basis for his conclusions。 I understand that it is supposed to be a book for a popular audience but he could have dug a little deeper without losing most of us。The second two parts of the book were a lot less persuasive and interesting。 The discussion of artificial intelligence in the second part started out promising。 I agree that current deep learning/neural network approaches to artificial intelligence are likely to run into walls that will keep them from moving to a true general artificial intelligence， and I agree that an approach based on Hawkins' Thousand Brains model could yield interesting results。 We should try it。 But I was less good with some of Hawkins's other thoughts about AI。 He was a bit too dismissive about the threat of AI， and I didn't buy some of his arguments for why AI is going to be benign and controllable and maybe not so awesomely smart after all。 Then there was the third part of the book which was just Hawkins' prognostications about the future， which didn't have much to do with his Thousand Brains model and were essentially no better informed than my own guesses about where things are going。 So the end of this book was disappointing。 You can stop at the end of the section on AI。 。。。more
Ron Edwards
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Wow。 Just great。Jeff has obviously spent a lot of time thinking and learning his craft and us able to convey complex ideas in a masterfully simple way。 I am a lay reader and was worried I would be biting off more than I could chew by venturing into this book。 Not so， it is wonderfully readable。 As a bonus I especially enjoyed Jeff's well thought out arguments on the future of artificial intelligence and our future as a species。 It helped me to clarify in my own mind the sense of frustration I ha Wow。 Just great。Jeff has obviously spent a lot of time thinking and learning his craft and us able to convey complex ideas in a masterfully simple way。 I am a lay reader and was worried I would be biting off more than I could chew by venturing into this book。 Not so， it is wonderfully readable。 As a bonus I especially enjoyed Jeff's well thought out arguments on the future of artificial intelligence and our future as a species。 It helped me to clarify in my own mind the sense of frustration I have always had with dystopia futures。 An excellent read， but more importantly I hope an excellent contribution to those of you bringing our future。 Can't recommend it highly enough。 。。。more
Jamie D。
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I was particularly interested in how the author explains thinking as movement。 Imagine trying to learn the layout of a house。 You must move from room to room to learn the contents and location of each room。 He argues that this is how are brains work。 I found that fascinating。
Peter O'Kelly
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Some resources to consider -- reviews:t• https://www。kirkusreviews。com/book-re。。。t• https://www。publishersweekly。com/978-。。。t• https://www。lesswrong。com/posts/ixZLT。。。t• https://www。zdnet。com/article/a-love-。。。t• https://plugaru。org/2021/03/10/a-thou。。。t• https://www。goodreads。com/review/show。。。Interview:t• https://www。technologyreview。com/2021。。。 Some resources to consider -- reviews:t• https://www。kirkusreviews。com/book-re。。。t• https://www。publishersweekly。com/978-。。。t• https://www。lesswrong。com/posts/ixZLT。。。t• https://www。zdnet。com/article/a-love-。。。t• https://plugaru。org/2021/03/10/a-thou。。。t• https://www。goodreads。com/review/show。。。Interview:t• https://www。technologyreview。com/2021。。。 。。。more
Max
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The first third was a neat little intro to neuroscience in general。 Would have been nice for me to read it 10 years ago。 The actual thesis doesn't need a book though。 One chapter would have been sufficient。 Half to two thirds of the book are a weird tangent on existential risk， machine intelligence and extraterrestrial search for life。 I like those topics， but I did not expect the author to cover these topics。 I don't see really why he thought it necessary to put them into this book。What I found The first third was a neat little intro to neuroscience in general。 Would have been nice for me to read it 10 years ago。 The actual thesis doesn't need a book though。 One chapter would have been sufficient。 Half to two thirds of the book are a weird tangent on existential risk， machine intelligence and extraterrestrial search for life。 I like those topics， but I did not expect the author to cover these topics。 I don't see really why he thought it necessary to put them into this book。What I found very disappointing is his argument on existential risk by AI。 It's very handwavy saying it's no biggie。 He is very confident of his rebuttal as he mentions again and again how he showed that there is no reason to worry about AGI。 He does not bother to go into the common arguments of intelligence explosion and other concepts like e。g。 the orthogonality thesis。 The author seems very optimistic that an intelligent agent will have "reasonable" goals。 The same is extrapolated to extraterrestrial life。 Well， the confidence that he signaled made me doubt his other statements that he is so confident about。 A mixed big all in all。 Not worth to read the book wrt the actual thesis。 Nice intro to neuroscience if you need one。 And regarding the future stuff on AI， etc。， there are plenty of better books with more nuanced analyses。 。。。more
Ryan Boissonneault
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A Thousand Brains offers a new， compelling way to think about intelligence and provides the groundwork for the development of more sophisticated AI。 As an all-encompassing theory of consciousness， however， it falls seriously short。 Check out The Thousand Brains Theory of Intelligence and the Future of AI for the full review。 A Thousand Brains offers a new， compelling way to think about intelligence and provides the groundwork for the development of more sophisticated AI。 As an all-encompassing theory of consciousness， however， it falls seriously short。 Check out The Thousand Brains Theory of Intelligence and the Future of AI for the full review。 。。。more
Flaviu
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I personally loved it and will most likely keep it on my kindle for regular re-reads of certain chapters， but giving a broad recommendation of it is difficult。Jeff is a very pragmatic thinker。 Some ideas and proposals might not be to everybody's taste。 There's also a slight tinge of nihilism in the last part of the book that will probably turn many readers off。 That being said， if you're in any way fascinated by neuroscience you should definitely give this one a read， but keep an open mind about I personally loved it and will most likely keep it on my kindle for regular re-reads of certain chapters， but giving a broad recommendation of it is difficult。Jeff is a very pragmatic thinker。 Some ideas and proposals might not be to everybody's taste。 There's also a slight tinge of nihilism in the last part of the book that will probably turn many readers off。 That being said， if you're in any way fascinated by neuroscience you should definitely give this one a read， but keep an open mind about it。 。。。more
Philbro
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Jeff Hawkins has likely solved the "easy" problem of consciousness。 That is， he has likely figured out the algorithm by which the mammalian neocortex operates - the root of intelligence。 By some accounts， this also solves the "hard" problem of consciousness - what consciousness itself is。Let me say this again: Jeff Hawkins has likely solved humanity's longest and greatest philosophical and scientific question。 Thus， if you like books， and I imagine you do， this is arguably the most important boo Jeff Hawkins has likely solved the "easy" problem of consciousness。 That is， he has likely figured out the algorithm by which the mammalian neocortex operates - the root of intelligence。 By some accounts， this also solves the "hard" problem of consciousness - what consciousness itself is。Let me say this again: Jeff Hawkins has likely solved humanity's longest and greatest philosophical and scientific question。 Thus， if you like books， and I imagine you do， this is arguably the most important book written since Darwin's "On the Origin of Species"。The Thousand Brains theory of intelligence - that the neocortex is composed of many thousands of columns of connected neural structures based on older grid and place cells， which create and link together models of the world， and also vote together to construct hierarchically more nested models - is brilliant。 The number of empirical constraints it solves is incredibly satisfying。 Let me cite just three examples。1） What and Where Pathways。 Without getting into details （Hawkins provides some of these in the book and points you to the appropriate papers for detailed background information）， what/where pathways in the brain are explained if "reference frames" attach to objects in the what pathway， but attach to our bodies in the where pathway。 The simplicity is breathtaking and powerful。2） The Binding Problem。 Hawkins has solved the perceptual binding problem。 That is， when cortical columns agree on an object via consensus voting， they will naturally have different sensory inputs， thus they contribute diverse sensory models to a complete perception。3） The neocortex is built atop non-intelligent behavioral primitives。 If the cortex is so powerful， could it one day theoretically operate the human body without the older， non-intelligent parts of the brain？ No。 The Thousand Brains theory shows that the voting process underpinning the power and flexibility of our intelligence comes at the cost of being able to be fooled。 This is a feature not a bug - there is no way to model your environment in realtime without this cost。 The Thousand Brains theory thus makes sense of mysterious empirical studies such as "Size-contrast illusions deceive the eye but not the hand" by Aglioti et al。I hope you're starting to see why this book is so important， and why the Thousand Brains theory is so powerful in its explanatory capacity。 These outstanding puzzle pieces just seem to fall into place。So much for what David Chalmers calls the easy problem of consciousness - how the brain operates。As for Chalmers' hard problem - e。g。 even if we know how the brain works， what even is "redness"？ etc。 - I will only note， Hawkins is a thorough physicalist when it comes to consciousness， such that this and his previous book insist on using the word "intelligence" when one might want to see the word "consciousness"。 Unlike his previous book， Hawkins confronts this notion and dedicates a chapter to it here， in which the hard problem is recognized。 As a physicalist who acknowledges the hard problem myself， I nonetheless find Hawkins' commentary here unsatisfying。 For example， is the qualia of green a cortical map of green experiences with dimensions corresponding to green surface orientations？ I'm not convinced。 However， as Hawkins notes， qualia indeed seem "out there"。 In other words， qualia have the quale of location， an aspect nicely satisfied by reference frames at the core of the Thousand Brains theory。 A theory which， as testified to in the beginning of this review， is brilliant and satisfying in its own right。Even if you consider the hard problem to remain standing after reading A Thousand Brains， it's hard to argue that Hawkins hasn't largely solved the easy problem。 In the end， that may indeed be the harder problem to solve anyway。Read this book。 Your grandchildren will be learning it as brain gospel。 。。。more
Kayleigh Williams
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3。5Only the first part of this book actually deals with the thousand brain theory， after that the author goes way off tangent， his discussions on AI is still relevant to neurology and thus the book however the entire 3rd section is about aliens and space travel and has nothing to do with the thousand brain theory。Though the theory is interesting I feel like he didn't go nearly in-depth enough， also based on this book all the discoveries Numenta has made have been by him and him alone， at no poin 3。5Only the first part of this book actually deals with the thousand brain theory， after that the author goes way off tangent， his discussions on AI is still relevant to neurology and thus the book however the entire 3rd section is about aliens and space travel and has nothing to do with the thousand brain theory。Though the theory is interesting I feel like he didn't go nearly in-depth enough， also based on this book all the discoveries Numenta has made have been by him and him alone， at no point does he credit his colleagues/employees。 He describes all the ideas being his and his alone as if the 100+ other people who work there have been twiddling their thumbs for the past few decades。 The notion that he is solely responsible for all of the discoveries spoken about in this book （and that they all came to him while he sat in his office staring at a coffee cup） is frankly unrealistic and thus unbelievable。A few specific thoughts:We have goals that aren't based on old brain emotions though - I want to learn Chinese， I want to read this book instead of this book etc。 thus AI could still have some goals， just simple short-term goals“To support my point， consider that the largest loss of indigenous life was not directly inflicted by human invaders， but by introduced diseases—bacteria and viruses for which indigenous people had poor or no defenses” - Humans purposely spread these diseases so actually goes against his argument“It is understandable that people believed in a flat Earth five hundred years ago， because the spherical nature of the planet was not widely understood， and there was little to no evidence that the Earth was not flat” - 500 years ago most people didn't believe the world was flat as there was plenty of evidence to prove it wasn't - the concept that the earth revolved around the sun and not the other way round was what was widely believed “fighting over territory， fighting for mating rights， forced copulation， and stealing resources。 All built-in behaviors” - rape is a built in behaviour？？“Some dinosaur species evolved into today’s birds， but most went extinct” - That's still extinction， all dinosaurs went extinct。 If an animal evolves far enough to be classified as a new animal and there are none of the original left that animal is extinct“being lost forever is the same as never existing” - No it's not。 Our lives aren't for future people。 Our existence is not dependent on others remembering us。 We are our own free thinking intelligent beings why is our knowledge of ourself not enough why does our existent only become valid if another says so“If you look at Earth this way， then it doesn’t make sense to try to preserve species or to preserve Earth。 We cannot stop the Earth’s most basic geological features from changing， and we can’t stop species from evolving and going extinct” - then why should we bother trying to stop our species from going extinct？“Every environmentalist would be happy to see the extinction of some living things—say， the poliovirus” - The poliovirus isn't a living thing， no virus is“I want to emphasize again that I am not prescribing what we should do。 My goal is to encourage discussion” - Yet you wrote an entire book that is very biased （at no point does he provide or even entertain the thought of gene survival over knowledge survival） 。。。more
Amit Verma
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This science book is full of wonderful information。 It focuses on neuroscience specially on neocortex。 It tries to come up with theory of how it works。Its arguments and analogies appear impressive and book is written in such a simple language that everyone can read it。It has very wide reach into realms of science。 It describes brain mind integration， AI， future of mankind， effect of old brain on neocortex， consciousness and all aspects of effects of new theory。book is higly readable and enjoyabl This science book is full of wonderful information。 It focuses on neuroscience specially on neocortex。 It tries to come up with theory of how it works。Its arguments and analogies appear impressive and book is written in such a simple language that everyone can read it。It has very wide reach into realms of science。 It describes brain mind integration， AI， future of mankind， effect of old brain on neocortex， consciousness and all aspects of effects of new theory。book is higly readable and enjoyable and focuses on real situations and practical applications of neuroscience。A great read for science lovers。 。 。。。more
Vitória Fernandes
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Thanks to NetGalley and basic books for the digital copy of the book for an honest review。The book is divided into 3 parts， and they are: Part 1: A New Understanding of the Brain; Part 2: Machine Intelligence; Part 3: Human Intelligence。 The first part was， by far， my favorite。 In that section the author focus on the a thousand brains theory itself， in a simplified way， which allows people without previous knowledge on the field to understand the basics of the theory。 it left me wanting a little Thanks to NetGalley and basic books for the digital copy of the book for an honest review。The book is divided into 3 parts， and they are: Part 1: A New Understanding of the Brain; Part 2: Machine Intelligence; Part 3: Human Intelligence。 The first part was， by far， my favorite。 In that section the author focus on the a thousand brains theory itself， in a simplified way， which allows people without previous knowledge on the field to understand the basics of the theory。 it left me wanting a little more details about h9ow they got to some conclusions and also more about experiments that corroborate their theory。 There is a suggested readings section in the end of the book to expand on some topics in case you are interested。 I think it would be interesting to reread this book a some years from now to see if what he says in here holds up and stands the test of time。 The second part， which I also enjoyed quite a bit， is about AI and how the a thousand brains theory can help in that field。 I particularly liked the discussion about what consciousness is and what really is an intelligent machine。 i didn't love the third part as much。 It becomes highly speculative， in a non convincing way， even though it brings some interesting discussions， such as what the merger of brain and machine could mean。 If neuroscience and AI are topics that you are interested in then this is worth the read （at least the first 2 parts）。O livro é dividido em 3 partes， sendo elas （em tradução livre）: Parte 1: Um Novo Entendimento do Cérebro; Parte 2: Inteligência de máquinas; Parte 3: Inteligência Humana。 A primeira parte foi， de longe， a minha preferida。 Nesta parte o autor explica a sua "a thousand brains theory" （ou teoria dos mil cérebros， em tradução livre） de forma bem simplificada， o que permite que pessoas que não sejam da área científica consigam compreender。 Me deixou com um gostinho de quero mais sobre alguns detalhes， pois por ser teórico não traz muitos experimentos que comprovem o que supões ser verdade， mas ao final do livro tem sugestões de leituras complementares para aprofundar um pouco nos temas abordados ao longo do livro。 Seria interessante reler o livro daqui uns anos e ver se o que ele propões consegue se manter com o tempo e avanço científico。 Na segunda parte， que também gostei bastante， ele traz um pouco sobre inteligência artificial e como sua teoria pode ser aplicada neste campo。 Gostei principalmente das discussões sobre o que e conciência e o que realmente é inteligência em uma máquina。 Já a terceia parte não me agradou tanto。 Ele soa altamente especulativo e， embora traga algumas discussões interessantes， como a o que poderia acontecer na fusão de cérebros e máquinas， ele não conseguiu me convencer。Se neurociência e inteligência artificial são assustos que te interessam vale a pena a leitura， pelo menos das duas primeiras partes。 。。。more
Keith Martin
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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 intermediate level of abstraction: it's higher-level than the bottom-up feature analysis of David Marr， and it's lower-level than the top-down Society of Mind of Marvin Minsky。 To borrow a phrase from Sili 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 intermediate level of abstraction: it's higher-level than the bottom-up feature analysis of David Marr， and it's lower-level than the top-down Society of Mind of Marvin Minsky。 To borrow a phrase from Silicon Valley， it's a "Middle Out" approach。I'm actually rather offended that Hawkins' never mentions Minsky。 Hawkins practically steals the language of Minsky's Society of Mind （thousand brains， reference frames， etc。）， but neglects to give credit， even in the annotated bibliography （which， let's admit it， is mainly an advertisement for Hawkins' company's papers， where presumably the actual details of this theory can be found）。 It seems like Hawkins either has a massive chip on his shoulder or an over-inflated ego。 This is all very frustrating， because Hawkins' hand-wavy model is probably correct， and the first half of the book is a good read （albeit， very light on technical details）。 Unfortunately， the second half of the book is a waste of time。 Hawkins switches into prognostication mode and makes a bunch of fairly obvious arguments about the implications of machine intelligence。 Anyone interested in these topics should read Yuval Noah Harari -- Homo Deus is a much richer （and better written） examination of the same topics。I recommend the first half of the book to anyone who is interested in how to understand and reproduce human-level intelligence。 But save some time and skip the second half。 。。。more
GONZA
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The premise is that neuroscience has always interested me， but I am not an expert。 That said， the book is divided into three parts， and the first two （respectively the new theory of a Thousand Brains and its application to AI） seemed to me extremely interesting， scientifically founded and mandatory to continue to deepen in the appropriate places。 Unfortunately in the third part the author has turned into a kind of prophet of doom with some statements that I found unclear and above all unfounded， The premise is that neuroscience has always interested me， but I am not an expert。 That said， the book is divided into three parts， and the first two （respectively the new theory of a Thousand Brains and its application to AI） seemed to me extremely interesting， scientifically founded and mandatory to continue to deepen in the appropriate places。 Unfortunately in the third part the author has turned into a kind of prophet of doom with some statements that I found unclear and above all unfounded， but it is probably a problem due to my global ignorance on the subject。 La premessa d'obbligo é che le neuroscienze mi hanno sempre interessato， ma non sono un'esperta。 Detto questo il libro é diviso in tre parti， e le prime due （rispettivamente la nuova teoria dei 1000 cervelli e la sua applicazione all'AI） mi sono sembrate estremamente interessanti， scientificamente fondate e obbligatoriamente da continuare ad approfondire nei luoghi appositi。 Purtroppo nella terza parte l'autore si é trasformato in una specie di profeta di sventura con delle affermazioni che io ho trovato poco chiare e soprattutto poco fondate， ma appunto， é probabilmente un problema dovuto alla mia ignoranza globale sull'argomento。 THANKS NETGALLEY FOR THE PREVIEW！ 。。。more
Jeff
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Amazing Discussion Marred By Myopia In Its Final Act。 This book， by the guy that created the Palm Pilot （who has since turned to study neuroscience， which he had wanted to do from the beginning apparently）， describes the intriguing new theory of how the brain works that he and his team have crafted very well。 Hawkins does a truly excellent job of making the advanced theoretical neuroscience he works with approachable by all， from those who have barely ever heard of the word "neuroscience" to his Amazing Discussion Marred By Myopia In Its Final Act。 This book， by the guy that created the Palm Pilot （who has since turned to study neuroscience， which he had wanted to do from the beginning apparently）， describes the intriguing new theory of how the brain works that he and his team have crafted very well。 Hawkins does a truly excellent job of making the advanced theoretical neuroscience he works with approachable by all， from those who have barely ever heard of the word "neuroscience" to his colleagues and competitors in the field。 In discussing the neuroscience leading up to the "thousand brain" concept and in discussing how the "thousand brain" idea directly impacts computing and artificial intelligence， Hawkins is truly amazing。 The perils come in the third act， when Hawkins begins to apply the theory and what he believes it could mean directly to humans。 Here， he begins to sound both Transhumanist and Randian in his claims of absolute certitude that certain beliefs are false - even while actively ignoring that by the very things he is claiming， there is so much that we simply cannot know - and therefore， logically， there can be no true certitude on these claims。 While it was tempting to drop the overall work another star specifically for how bad this particular section is， ultimately the sections of the book leading up to that point are so strong that I simply can't go quite that far。 So read this book through Parts I and II， just be aware up front that Part III is the weakest section of the book and could easily be skipped entirely。 Recommended。 。。。more
Justine
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Thanks to NetGalley and Basic Books for providing an ARC！
*Tau*
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