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Your Brain is Running a Simulation Right Now [Max Bennett]

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Dec 30, 2025

Guest

Max Bennett

In an engaging discussion, tech entrepreneur and author Max Bennett delves into the evolution of our brains over 600 million years. He explains how our brains create a simulation of reality, which can lead to fascinating optical illusions. Max highlights unique animal behaviors, such as rats experiencing regrets and chimps displaying Machiavellian tactics. He explores the implications of brain evolution for human intelligence and AI, emphasizing the importance of language and social dynamics in shaping our cognition and learning.

03:17:09

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insights

INSIGHT

Neocortex: Learning By Imagining

Neocortex enables rich simulation and offline exploration of latent representations, not just object recognition.
Its adaptive value may lie more in imagined planning than raw perception accuracy.

insights

INSIGHT

Perception Is A Generative Inference

The brain perceives by inferring a single rendered hypothesis and uses sensory input only to confirm or disconfirm it.
Generative prediction (imagination) lets us simulate futures and explains illusions, dreaming, and perception errors.

insights

INSIGHT

Culture Is Externalized Intelligence

External tools (writing, the internet) extend human memory and thinking beyond biological limits.
Cultural artifacts and shared knowledge massively increase effective intelligence per person.

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Outsider perspective shapes the book

00:31 • 2min

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Reconciling conflicting ideas about the brain

02:35 • 3min

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Active inference, transformers and AI gaps

05:30 • 1min

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Neocortex and model-based learning

06:33 • 4min

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Perception as inference and filling-in

10:19 • 6min

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Generative models enable imagination

16:04 • 7min

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Recognition vs understanding

22:37 • 3min

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Extended intelligence and cultural tools

25:58 • 2min

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Evidence in cortex connectivity for generation

27:51 • 3min

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Brain vs transformer differences

30:46 • 2min

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Agency, entropy smuggling and emergent goals

33:01 • 1min

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Active inference and motor predictions

34:19 • 3min

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Vicarious trial and error in rodents

37:20 • 5min

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Pruning the search: how brains choose simulations

42:00 • 4min

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Multiple parallel models and uncertainty

45:37 • 2min

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Self-modeling and agranular prefrontal cortex

47:15 • 4min

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Layer four mystery and Friston's insight

51:36 • 3min

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Goals, explanations and model-based planning

55:04 • 3min

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Why study brain evolution?

58:32 • 3min

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Method for inferring ancestral abilities

01:01:32 • 4min

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Basal ganglia: elegant reinforcement structure

01:05:29 • 4min

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Primate brain expansion and social pressure

01:09:13 • 6min

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Machiavellian apes: deception and counter-deception

01:15:16 • 4min

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Instrumental convergence and AI risks

01:19:40 • 4min

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Mentalizing as an alignment strategy

01:23:50 • 4min

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From simple social signals to complex status games

01:27:50 • 2min

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Status seeking, the memosphere and hidden motives

01:29:27 • 7min

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Language as human superpower

01:36:19 • 6min

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Language, declarative labels and joint attention

01:42:14 • 7min

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Memes, cultural evolution and shared fictions

01:49:12 • 6min

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Collective intelligence and knowledge distillation

01:55:22 • 6min

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Cultural tools reshape human cognition

02:01:10 • 6min

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Analogy: digital versus analog minds

02:07:00 • 7min

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GPT, theory of mind and data efficiency

02:13:52 • 9min

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World models, hypothesis testing and agency gap

02:22:28 • 6min

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Agents create training data via exploration

02:28:11 • 5min

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Evaluating models by rejection of false training data

02:33:20 • 5min

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Risks and opportunities of cognitive augmentation

02:38:38 • 6min

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Cultural trade-offs and moral choices

02:44:20 • 3min

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Language evolution challenges and stability

02:47:40 • 11min

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Sentience, indistinguishability and philosophy

02:58:50 • 9min

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Active learning vs passive self-supervision

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The Elephant in the Brain

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The Status Game

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A Brief History of Intelligence

Evolution, AI, and the Five Breakthroughs That Made Our Brains

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This book surveys the history of humankind from the Stone Age to the 21st century, focusing on Homo sapiens. It divides human history into four major parts: the Cognitive Revolution, the Agricultural Revolution, the Unification of Humankind, and the Scientific Revolution. Harari argues that Homo sapiens dominate the world due to their unique ability to cooperate in large numbers through beliefs in imagined realities such as gods, nations, money, and human rights. The book also examines the impact of human activities on the global ecosystem and speculates on the future of humanity, including the potential for genetic engineering and non-organic life.

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The selfish gene

Lalla Ward Richard Dawkins

Richard Dawkins

In 'The Selfish Gene', Richard Dawkins presents a gene-centred view of evolution, arguing that genes are the primary units of selection and that they behave selfishly to ensure their own replication. The book explains concepts such as kin selection, inclusive fitness, and the evolutionarily stable strategy, highlighting how these mechanisms can lead to altruistic behaviors in organisms. Dawkins emphasizes that the 'selfishness' of genes is a metaphorical concept, describing their evolutionary consequences rather than any intentional behavior. The book has been influential in shaping modern evolutionary thought and remains relevant today.

Tim sits down with Max Bennett to explore how our brains evolved over 600 million years—and what that means for understanding both human intelligence and AI.

Max isn't a neuroscientist by training. He's a tech entrepreneur who got curious, started reading, and ended up weaving together three fields that rarely talk to each other: comparative psychology (what different animals can actually do), evolutionary neuroscience (how brains changed over time), and AI (what actually works in practice).

*Your Brain Is a Guessing Machine*

You don't actually "see" the world. Your brain builds a simulation of what it *thinks* is out there and just uses your eyes to check if it's right. That's why optical illusions work—your brain is filling in a triangle that isn't there, or can't decide if it's looking at a duck or a rabbit.

*Rats Have Regrets*

*Chimps Are Machiavellian*

*Language Is the Human Superpower*

*Does ChatGPT Think?*

(truncated description, more on rescript)

Understanding how the brain evolved isn't just about the past. It gives us clues about:

- What's actually different between human intelligence and AI

- Why we're so easily fooled by status games and tribal thinking

- What features we might want to build into—or leave out of—future AI systems

Get Max's book:

https://www.amazon.com/Brief-History-Intelligence-Humans-Breakthroughs/dp/0063286343

Rescript: https://app.rescript.info/public/share/R234b7AXyDXZusqQ_43KMGsUSvJ2TpSz2I3emnI6j9A

---

TIMESTAMPS:

00:00:00 Introduction: Outsider's Advantage & Neocortex Theories

00:11:34 Perception as Inference: The Filling-In Machine

00:19:11 Understanding, Recognition & Generative Models

00:36:39 How Mice Plan: Vicarious Trial & Error

00:46:15 Evolution of Self: The Layer 4 Mystery

00:58:31 Ancient Minds & The Social Brain: Machiavellian Apes

01:19:36 AI Alignment, Instrumental Convergence & Status Games

01:33:07 Metacognition & The IQ Paradox

01:48:40 Does GPT Have Theory of Mind?

02:00:40 Memes, Language Singularity & Brain Size Myths

02:16:44 Communication, Language & The Cyborg Future

02:44:25 Shared Fictions, World Models & The Reality Gap

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REFERENCES:Person:

[00:00:05] Karl Friston (UCL)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNYWi996Beg

[00:00:06] Jeff Hawkins

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VQILbDqaI4

[00:12:19] Hermann von Helmholtz

https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/hermann-helmholtz/

[00:38:34] David Redish (U. Minnesota)

https://redishlab.umn.edu/

[01:10:19] Robin Dunbar

https://www.psy.ox.ac.uk/people/robin-dunbar

[01:15:04] Emil Menzel

https://www.sciencedirect.com/bookseries/behavior-of-nonhuman-primates/vol/5/suppl/C

[01:19:49] Nick Bostrom

https://nickbostrom.com/

[02:28:25] Noam Chomsky

https://linguistics.mit.edu/user/chomsky/

[03:01:22] Judea Pearl

https://samueli.ucla.edu/people/judea-pearl/

Concept/Framework:

[00:05:04] Active Inference

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkR24ieh5Ow

Paper:

[00:35:59] Predictions not commands [Rick A Adams]

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23129312/

Book:

[01:25:42] The Elephant in the Brain

https://www.amazon.com/Elephant-Brain-Hidden-Motives-Everyday/dp/0190495995

[01:28:27] The Status Game

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58642436-the-status-game

[02:00:40] The Selfish Gene

https://amazon.com/dp/0198788606

[02:14:25] The Language Game

https://www.amazon.com/Language-Game-Improvisation-Created-Changed/dp/1541674987

[02:54:40] The Evolution of Language

https://www.amazon.com/Evolution-Language-Approaches/dp/052167736X

[03:09:37] The Three-Body Problem

https://amazon.com/dp/0765377063

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