A Thousand Brains: A New Theory of Intelligence

by Jeff Hawkins

“The very act of thinking is a form of movement”

I find it amazing that the only thing in the universe that knows the universe exists is the three-pound mass of cells floating in our heads. It reminds me of the old puzzle: If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it, did it make a sound? Similarly, we can ask: If the universe came into and out of existence and there were no brains to know it, did the universe really exist? Who would know? A few billion cells suspended in your skull know not only that the universe exists but that it is vast and old.

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 mis-prediction causes you to attend to the error and update the model.

what we commonly call thinking is actually moving through a space, through a reference frame.

We don’t let a single human, or even a small number of humans, control the world’s resources. We need to be similarly careful with machines.

We are Homo sapiens, the wise humans. Hopefully, we will be wise enough to recognize how special we are, wise enough to make the choices that ensure our species survives as long as possible here on Earth, and wise enough to make the choices that ensure that intelligence and knowledge survive even longer, here on Earth and throughout the universe.