The Next Big Idea Daily Where Intelligence Really Comes From
Dec 3, 2025
Gaurav Suri and Jay McClelland, psychologists and authors of The Emergent Mind, delve into how simple neural interactions can create complex thoughts. They illustrate emergence with relatable examples like water and ants. Ogi Ogas and Sai Gaddam, neuroscientists and co-authors of Journey of the Mind, explore consciousness and the human 'supermind,' arguing that language fosters collective intelligence. They emphasize diversity's role in enhancing mental capabilities and propose that love and cooperation are vital for advancing human thought.
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Ants Demonstrate Simple Rules Producing Smart Outcomes
- Gaurav Suri recounts watching ants find the shortest path around obstacles as a child in India.
- He later learned simple pheromone-following rules among ants produce this collective intelligence.
Mind As An Emergent System
- Jay McClelland and Gaurav Suri argue minds are emergent from simple interacting parts.
- Neurons doing simple actions and connecting create complex thoughts and behaviors.
Thoughts As Distributed Activation Patterns
- Jay explains thoughts can be patterns of activation across many neurons in different brain regions.
- Connections formed by co-occurrence let one pattern (a name) trigger another (a visual image).
