2min chapter

Inquiring Minds cover image

A Thousand Brains: A New Theory of Intelligence

Inquiring Minds

CHAPTER

A Thousand Brains, a New Theory of Intelligence

Most people, including ourselves, would assume that the model of the world in your hand, i is just a monolithic model. And what we find a this is not true at all. We have thousands of models. Each column in the cortex is its own modelling system. There are many, many models o th coffee cup. Ther are many models with the coffee cup looks like. There are even models what coffee cups sound like. and so these models, they reach a consens that is ta. It's the voting that we perceive. The thousand brains theory says, its just thak. each of the qartival columns is like a little brain, if you will.

00:00
Speaker 2
So i just want to remind our listeners that am jeff's book, a thousand brains, a new theory of intelligence, is now available if you want an imdet look in into this, this idea on this theory. So so tell us why a thousand brains? And i think we're sorryng to get the picture. But what is different about having, say, a thousand brains, versus, you know, one central brain that sits, as a lot of us think about it, and kind of gets information from all these little modelsd and and then does something to it? So
Speaker 1
why? Why do we call it a thousand friends? Most people, including ourselves, up to about, no six years ago, would assume that the model of the world in your hand, i is just a monolithic model. In all the nurons, the cortek, all converge on one spot where you have this model of everything. And what we find a this is not true at all. It turns out that the model is so i asked myself something like, where is my knowledge ofit of an object such as tha coffee cup, it's distributed in thousands of models. Each column in the cortex is its own modelling system. And therefore, each one is, there are many, many models o th coffee cup. There are models that what the coffee cup feels like. Ther are many models with the coffee cup looks like. There are even models what coffee cups sound like. And and so these models, they reach a consens that is ta. Each one is trying to figure ot what's going on in the world. Each one says, i'm not sure exactly what i'm feeling or what i'm seeing. But they vote. And it's the voting, and they reach te consensus by voting. It's the voting that we perceive. We don't perceive all the others, the arbitration that goes underneath it. And so the thousand brains theory says, its just thak. We have thousands of models. Each of the qartival columns is like a little brain, if you will.

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