Status Updates From How to Create a Mind: The S...

A primary reason that evolution created brains was to predict the future.
But such built-in predictors of the future are linear, not exponential, a quality that stems from the linear organization of the neocortex.
The neocortex is organized with linear sequences of steps in each pattern, which means that exponential thinking does not come naturally to us.

Gosh this is more technical than I expected but determined to see it through

Before brains there was no color or sound in the universe, nor was there any flavor or aroma and probably little sense and no feeling or emotion.

The truth can be discovered only by finding an explanation that overrides-transcends-seeming differences, especially for fundamental questions of meaning and purpose.

I refer to “mind” in the title of this book rather than “brain” because a mind is a brain that is conscious.

Individual philosophical assumption about the nature and source of consciousness underlie disagreements on issues ranging from animal rights to abortion, and will result in even more contentious future conflicts over machine rights.

People often fail to appreciate how powerful mathematics can be - keep in mind that our ability to search much of human knowledge in a fraction of a second with search engines is based on a mathematical technique.