New Books Network Gaurav Suri and Jay McClelland, "The Emergent Mind: How Intelligence Arises in People and Machines" (Basic Books, 2025)
Oct 29, 2025
Join Gaurav Suri, an associate professor of psychology, and Jay McClelland, a renowned cognitive scientist at Stanford, as they dive into their groundbreaking book, exploring how intelligence emerges in both humans and machines. They discuss how our decision-making processes resemble the operations of neural networks, drawing parallels with ant colonies and the evolution of electrical signaling. The duo also addresses the implications of their findings for understanding consciousness and AI, sparking a fascinating conversation on empathy in our technological age.
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Mind As An Emergent Collective
- Minds arise from many simple parts interacting, not from single units.
- Jay McClelland argues neurons collectively produce thought and experience through emergence.
Ant Trail Solves The Maze
- Gaurav describes ants solving a maze by laying and following pheromone trails.
- The colony's short-path choice emerges though no ant plans the solution.
Experience From Neural Interactions
- Experiences like viewing art can emerge from interacting neuron populations.
- Jay McClelland built neural-network models to capture how those experiences arise.
