Short thesis with plenty of tangents

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.

7 people found this helpful

3 sections - outstanding, fine, tedious

The first section is neuroscientific theory, presented in a way that's easy to follow and appreciate. Really excellent stuff, I fully understand why so many prominent scientists and casual readers praise Hawkins.
The second section is ok. That's unfair, the second section is good, but after the brilliance of the opening, there's a very high bar.
Sadly, the last section is opinionated guff presented as fact. Opinion is fine, but dodgy models are made out to be beyond dispute and the author ridicules anyone with a different view. And this section is massively self-contradictory.

My advice: enjoy the first section and go no further. You'll be left richer for the experience. If you venture all the way through, you may feel let down and cast greater doubt on the ideas which Jeff Hawkins conveys at the beginning, which would be a shame.

1 person found this helpful

A great book for an AI and human cognition student

This book is a great read and/or listen and has spoken to me on three different fronts.

First and foremost, the content in this book is relevant to my field of study, Artificial Intelligence and Data with a focus on Human Cognition. Here I find especially the second part of this book both informative and intriguing.
The various suggestion laid out in this book, such as the implementation of a global grid with remotely connected intelligent agents for analyzation of various patterns such as weather prediction, will allow the engineering minded reader to really dream and mold over the prospects of such a future system.

Secondly the philosophical side of me finds the last chapters interesting. In these chapters Jeff Hawkins moves a bit away from the discoveries of his work and talks about various ifs, buts, when, how and whys of the future. I find that Mr. Hawkins here gives not only an educated and well thought out array of information, but also achieves what is often lost in these kinds of works, to make sure the reader understands that this is speculation on his part, speculation that he finds not only important for him to give to us, but also important that we, layman and expert alike, actively participate in.

Lastly, and honestly least of these three points, I find his reformulation of some of Richard Dawkins points about Memes rather well timed. While I factually agree with Dr. Dawkins points about how the spread of the religion meme acts, in many ways, as a virus. I find that his original formulation of the issue, can be considered somewhat of a rhetorical balance act, one where I find that the outcome in many situations can be negative. In this instance Mr. Hawkins strikes a nice middle ground by choosing his example and formulation more carefully. I’ll not delve into this, so as not to spoil the realization for other readers.

All in all, I really enjoyed the audio book, and look forward to receiving my hard copy in the coming days.
Jeff Hawkins has if not renewed then bolstered my interest in a field I already find very fascinating. Thank you for your work Mr. Hawkins.

1 person found this helpful

Recognise Recognition

Repetitively stating "reference frames in cortical columns" doesn't force the theory into existence. It seems way too cumbersome (and inefficient) How does a bee "recognise" another bee or an ant an ant - Can't believe nature would waste brain space with thousands of reference frames. Surely there's a space for recognition (a word carefully avoided throughout the book) and a bit of mathematical jiggery pokery to make it all work - Like facial recognition systems. I know a saucepan ain't a coffee cup but i know I can use it to drink coffee. There's a big lump of something essential missing from this theory! It needs more spice!! 😂😂
Additionally, our author really needs to read more scifi, as the final section was equally as laborious and uninspiring as the first...

Did Old-brain win at the end?

I found Mr Hawkins' explanation of the neocortex convincing and fascinating. I hope it will stimulate further development in the real world.
I was positively excited that he so carefully laid out the existential threats to humanity arising from 'old-brain' thinking, linking the insight to R Dawkins' own insight described in The Selfish Gene. He absolutely called out the damage done by viral influences that foster unwarranted misery on sections of the community e.g. all females. Well done!

The third part of the book explores what we might do to keep intelligent life going in the face of self-started or external threats to our existence. This is a good read and stimulated the following criticism:
Having brilliantly commented that it is knowledge and intelligence that must survive, and also suggesting that intelligent machines must help in, for example, establishing a second home for humanity on Mars, Mr Hawkins advocates for all such efforts to be made to enable humanity to survive. This seems to me to be sentimental and an example of old-brain thinking. After all, there are other representatives of terrestrial DNA that would adapt far more quickly and safely to a Martian or further flung environment and IA assistants would surely be happy to wait around, holding on to the human record of knowledge until intelligent fleshy life restarted.
Mr Hawkins does not arrive at what for me is the obvious conclusion. That is, that if those assisting machines have intelligence, awareness and consciousness - and they don't need expensive commodities such as Oxygen, Water, 1G gravity and benign temperatures to survive and thrive, then they are the perfect children of the 'new-brain' human. They are our ticket to the future and the Galaxy, especially as they will not be overly concerned about time, which exists for us because we decay, but possibly not for an Alternate Intelligence which might eventually dispense with physicality and locality.

The other conclusion sitting between the lines is: let 'old-brain' humanity continue to produce more old-brain biological humans, with its associated problems and tragedies and to manage things as humanity currently does. In the meantime, smart people can spawn the new-brain child of humanity hoping that it will be just like them, but like wise parents, eventually recognise when it is time to let go and retire, letting the new generation take care of itself.

a must read.

Great, refreshing book. Really eye opening ideas within. I would reccomend to anyone interested in how our brains work and artificial intelligence.

A stunning mind broadening read.

Essential reading for everyone in possession of a brain. Make this viral. In a world of information pollution this should come screaming to the front for everyone's attention.

I seldom write a review. this book is a gem

Title says it all. Very insightful and very well narrated . highly recommended .

Insightful and inspirational - a great read

A great book, that discusses a new model of the brain, AI some deeper concepts that make you think.

The author plays down the potential risks of AI and although it takes time to learn, machines will communicate and adopt the leant skills of other machines in minimal time. They also won’t start their life with minimal knowledge - like humans.