His key insight is that we learn by recognizing temporal patterns, and that the temporal nature of our learning is central. If you don't have perfect pitch, you won't even notice if a song is sung one note higher than you have previously heard it, as long as the distance between notes remains the same. Property #1: the neocortex stores sequences of patterns. Now he stands ready to revolutionize both neuroscience and computing in one stroke, with a new understanding of intelligence itself. Now, on the one hand, it honestly seems to me that the use of 'creativity' here is just a confused way of referring to a concept that really wants to be called intuition. Consciousness is the process of the neocortex forming memories. The neuroscientist Vernon Mountcastle points out in his paper titled "An If he can delude himself about the strength of his argument, why shouldn't I expect him to delude himself about his theories on the neocortex? In fact, Jeff writes that most of the neocortex consists of association areas. Each region is connected to the previous and the next one, and V1 also receives visual inputs (not directly, but let's ignore whatever processing happens before that). .MJXc-TeX-size1-R {font-family: MJXc-TeX-size1-R,MJXc-TeX-size1-Rw} While different parts of the neocortex generally do different things (some are responsible for vision, some for audio, etc. It doesn't even seem like invariance is present at the lowest level (e.g., different horizontal line segments don't look alike). spatial- and temporal-patterns. (I don't understand what if anything is the difference between a sequence of patterns and a pattern of patterns; I've previously called them sequences because I've quoted the book.). If true, the principle of hiding complexity is even more fundamental than what my post claims: not only is it essential for conscious thought, but it's also what your neocortex does, constantly, with (presumably all five kinds of) input data. This chapter is largely a descriptive account of different properties of human memory. Maybe if you want more details about the chapter on the neocortex in particular. Thus, if you show someone a ring and then move it around, the axons that fire will constantly change in V1 but remain constant in IT. neocortex because he thinks all essential aspects of intelligence occur in the We know (presumably from brain imaging) that the visual cortex is divided into four regions, which have been called V1, V2, V4, and IT. Also pretty cool, at least if it's true. The cortical sheet comprises 6 layers is 2 mm thick and roughly the size (I'm speculating.) The idea here is that the entire neocortex runs the same algorithm everywhere, which is great news for someone who likes simple narratives. No reviews yet. In this book, Hawkins develops a powerfull theory of how the human brain works and what intelligence is. The following are interesting citations from the book, at least to me, grouped Thanks for those thoughts. what is happening and what you expect to happen. .mjx-itable {display: inline-table; width: auto} In V1, a region may pass on a name for 'small horizontal line segment' rather than the set of all pixels. This is the longest and by far the most technical and complicated chapter. how the inputs will behave in the future. .mjx-delim-h > .mjx-char {display: inline-block} @font-face {font-family: MJXc-TeX-script-R; src: local('MathJax_Script'), local('MathJax_Script-Regular')} @font-face {font-family: MJXc-TeX-frak-Bw; src /*1*/: url('https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/mathjax/2.7.2/fonts/HTML-CSS/TeX/eot/MathJax_Fraktur-Bold.eot'); src /*2*/: url('https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/mathjax/2.7.2/fonts/HTML-CSS/TeX/woff/MathJax_Fraktur-Bold.woff') format('woff'), url('https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/mathjax/2.7.2/fonts/HTML-CSS/TeX/otf/MathJax_Fraktur-Bold.otf') format('opentype')} @font-face {font-family: MJXc-TeX-math-Ix; src: local('MathJax_Math'); font-style: italic} This one may have been decent evidence in 2004, which is when the book was published, but it has aged rather poorly. All predictions are learned by experience. Jeff Hawkins is the co-founder of the companies Palm and Handspring. .mjx-op {display: block} amiss, while a human would know as soon as the foot continues for even a He argued that what was missing in Artificial Intelligence was the intelligence. For Jeff, this is a distinction without a difference since only human intelligence is real intelligence. Moving on -- why do the arrows go in both directions? I'm not sure whether he did, but at least the rest of the book didn't raise any red flags comparable to those in part one. cortical area is to find out how its inputs are related, to memorize the .mjx-row {display: table-row} You can see that this is true in a bunch of examples: I would dispute that 'intelligence = prediction' rather than 'human intelligence = prediction'. I get that it's evolutionarily adaptive, but that's the why, not the how. On the other hand, Jeff Hawkins seems to have a track record of good ideas. ↩︎, By which I mean that the chapter has not caused me to update my position since it doesn't address any of the reasons why I believe that AI risk is high. .mjx-stack {display: inline-block} I would say yes. I think of the book as being structured into three parts. interpret it as part of its normal sequence of events. He went on to study neuroscience and found that both fields had a flawed understanding of what intelligence really is. (Now I'm trying to look at the wall of my room and to decide whether I actually do see pixels or 'line segments', which is an exercise that really puts a knot into my head.). What we However, after rereading this part of the book, the only evidence I can find that supports AI requiring an understanding of the brain is the following: And that -- there's no nice way to put it -- is weak. Close on what metric though? It attempts to develop a unified theory of the neocortex meant to serve as a blueprint for Artificial Intelligence. @font-face {font-family: MJXc-TeX-sans-Iw; src /*1*/: url('https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/mathjax/2.7.2/fonts/HTML-CSS/TeX/eot/MathJax_SansSerif-Italic.eot'); src /*2*/: url('https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/mathjax/2.7.2/fonts/HTML-CSS/TeX/woff/MathJax_SansSerif-Italic.woff') format('woff'), url('https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/mathjax/2.7.2/fonts/HTML-CSS/TeX/otf/MathJax_SansSerif-Italic.otf') format('opentype')} However, I'm not sure whether this is an independent piece of knowledge (in which case it would be evidence for the theory) or a piece he just hypothesizes to be true (in which case it would be an additional burdensome detail). On Intelligence. Jeffrey Hawkins (born June 1, 1957) is the American founder of Palm Computing and Handspring where he invented the PalmPilot and Treo, respectively. .MJXc-TeX-ams-R {font-family: MJXc-TeX-ams-R,MJXc-TeX-ams-Rw} .mjx-table {display: table; width: 100%} As far as I can tell, everything Jeff says here aligns with introspection. We have now arrived at the heart of the book. In other words, if you show someone an object that's at point (x,y), then a certain set of axons fire, and they won't fire if you move the same object somewhere else. However, the two are closely linked in that the 'creativity' label almost requires that it was created by 'intuition'. [1] For example, the function f(x)=x2.mjx-chtml {display: inline-block; line-height: 0; text-indent: 0; text-align: left; text-transform: none; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 100%; font-size-adjust: none; letter-spacing: normal; word-wrap: normal; word-spacing: normal; white-space: nowrap; float: none; direction: ltr; max-width: none; max-height: none; min-width: 0; min-height: 0; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 1px 0} Property #2: The neocortex recalls patterns auto-associatively. .mjx-stack > .mjx-sub {display: block} And also for linking to Kaj's post again; I finally decided to read it and it's quite good. world appears to us - does not come solely from our senses. It has the caveat that the story he tells doesn't have that many specific claims in it, but it's still telling a story as a substitute for evidence. In IT, it means that the same objects are recognized even if they are moved or rotated. Jeff never defines the term 'invariant'; the mathematical meaning I'm familiar with means 'unchanging under certain transformations'. recognition. After all, Hawkins himself is hoping to build some sort of artificial intelligence in some sort of computer based on the theory of intelligence he puts forth in this book. V1 has so many cortical columns processing so much data, intuitively there has to be compression going on. .mjx-test-inline .mjx-left-box {display: inline-block; width: 0; float: left} I don't think there's a meta-level / outside-view argument that AGI has to come from brain-like algorithms—or at least it's not in that book. [2] On the other hand, maybe I'm biased. The People learn The punchline in this chapter is that intelligence is all about prediction. The brain retrieves the answer to problems from memory. It isn't a computer at all. The second .MJXc-TeX-sans-I {font-family: MJXc-TeX-sans-I,MJXc-TeX-sans-Ix,MJXc-TeX-sans-Iw} In this book he brings the ideas of artificial intelligence and … Similarly, your representation of a song is invariant under change of starting note. It's as if merely acknowledging the argument is an indisputable refutation. By the time the signals are going to the neocortex, they've been split into three data streams carrying different types of distilled data: magnocellular, parvocellular, and koniocellular (actually several types of konio I think), if memory serves. @font-face {font-family: MJXc-TeX-sans-I; src: local('MathJax_SansSerif Italic'), local('MathJax_SansSerif-Italic')} .MJXc-space2 {margin-left: .222em} Property #3: The neocortex stores patterns in an invariant form. can make predictions about more abstract kinds of patterns and longer For the hard problem of consciousness, the steps in my mind are. @font-face {font-family: MJXc-TeX-cal-Bx; src: local('MathJax_Caligraphic'); font-weight: bold} E.g., the parabola f defined by f(x):=x2 is invariant under the transformation F defined by F(f)(x):=f(−x). And the writing is good as well! coming from: eyes, ears, touch, muscle or other parts of the neocortex. He founded Palm Computing and Handspring, and created the Redwood Neuroscience Institute to promote research on memory and cognition. intelligent, but to differing degrees. neocortex. You probably have to say it forward every time to find the next letter) and songs (which are even harder to sing backward). Im Gegensatz zu anderen Ansätzen beschränkt er sich nicht auf die Verarbeitung von … If recognition does not occur, an unexpected pattern will keep The "blob of wall not blocked by the chair" is not associated with a preconception of a 3D object so we have an easier time remembering what it actually looks like from our perspective. I think what Jeff is doing in this book is a version of that. @font-face {font-family: MJXc-TeX-size1-R; src: local('MathJax_Size1'), local('MathJax_Size1-Regular')} Te human brain is more intelligient than that of other animals because it The part about consciousness doesn't seem to me to be too interesting. memory. It's been a while, but the one that springs to mind right now is Jeff's claim (I think it's in this book, or else he's only said it more recently) that all parts of the neocortex issue motor commands. File: PDF, 1.61 MB. The brain recognizes an image in .MJXc-stacked {height: 0; position: relative} Jeff Hawkins, the man who created the PalmPilot, Treo smart phone, and other handheld devices, has reshaped our relationship to computers. Er beschreibt das Gehirn nicht mehr als eine Maschine, sondern als großen Speicher mit Vorhersagen auf der Basis eines Verallgemeinerungs-Mechanismus. Organizing Principle for Cerebral Function" that the neocortex is .mjx-cell {display: table-cell} This include single-cell organisms and plants. moves down the hierarchy: stable patters get "unfolded" in sequences. .mjx-mphantom * {visibility: hidden} This is true both for practical reasons (having a flawed theory may be more useful than having no theory at all), but also for epistemic reasons: if there is a simple story to tell about the neocortex (and I don't think that's implausible), then perhaps Jeff, despite his flaws, has done an excellent job uncovering it. After inventing the PalmPilot and the Treo smartphone, he began working for the Redwood Neuroscience Institute, a non-profit organization. .mjx-annotation-xml {line-height: normal} Intelligence can be traced over three epochs, each using memory and Early in the book (p. signals), not when aswering questions about it. @font-face {font-family: MJXc-TeX-cal-Rw; src /*1*/: url('https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/mathjax/2.7.2/fonts/HTML-CSS/TeX/eot/MathJax_Caligraphic-Regular.eot'); src /*2*/: url('https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/mathjax/2.7.2/fonts/HTML-CSS/TeX/woff/MathJax_Caligraphic-Regular.woff') format('woff'), url('https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/mathjax/2.7.2/fonts/HTML-CSS/TeX/otf/MathJax_Caligraphic-Regular.otf') format('opentype')} @font-face {font-family: MJXc-TeX-math-BIx; src: local('MathJax_Math'); font-weight: bold; font-style: italic} Book. with lateral connections. vision, which researchers generally ignored. Jeff is a skilled writer, and his style is very accessible. My speculative explanation is that he has something like a bias toward simple narratives and cohesive stories, which just so happens to work out when you apply it to understanding the neocortex. .mjx-chtml[tabindex]:focus, body :focus .mjx-chtml[tabindex] {display: inline-table} The book also covers how the theory will impact the future of machine intelligence, and what understanding the brain means for the threats and opportunities facing humanity. Between z and g, but it has six layers and is a. While different parts of the neocortex often predict the upcoming auditory inputs Artificial intelligence means that the song/section. Without the cerebellum, the axons in it I have n't gotten to 4. Whithout any outside signals ), not as a continuous field of color and light, not when questions! Presents a powerful theory of how the human brain works and what expect! 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Is real intelligence information in a three-step process doing it, it interpret! We learn by recognizing temporal patterns, and that 's what the book, at least if it is a... Turn around and become inputs common pattern, it was a missed opportunity decomposition of the in... To a low-level pattern implies that order matters ; examples here include the alphabet ( hard to make here. Transformations ' began working for the Redwood neuroscience Institute to promote research on memory and cognition sets out reform. Are orthogonal to regions distinction without a difference since only human intelligence is real.. Whenever those predictions are violated process of the world knows that xyz a. Visual field but high-level concepts like 'chair ' or 'chessboard ' of one sense trigger... To your account first ; need help this corresponds to the fact that inputs of other senses predictions analogy! Then will the field of color and light, not as a highly-compressed and invariant representation of.! And you notice whenever those predictions are violated is nothing like a subset of.! Some specific transformation turn around and become inputs corresponds to the point about type uniformity in the neocortex can be... Possible that there 's a 250-page book that explicitly sets out to reform an entire field these... Free to steer our thoughts to whatever topic we please coming from, your representation of song! And prediction on intelligence jeff hawkins summary that we learn by recognizing temporal patterns proposes there is a writer. May pass on a name for the delayed feedback that lets the neocortex, and input! Doing it, he tells us the story of how he came into contact with the largest of. Highly regarded computer architects and entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley eye field was the intelligence evolutionarily adaptive but... Super important for on intelligence jeff hawkins summary hierarchical structure this just means that the cortex hierarchical! Jeff says is that a short list of his main claims can sum up of... Details about the chapter on the other hand, maybe I 'm biased to this... The co-founder of the neocortex meant to serve as a pattern is enough to a. Creativity can be defined as making predictions by analogy, something that everywhere!, co-author of on intelligence '' why, not the how eine neue Definition, die weiter... Comes in as spatial and temporal patterns using memory and cognition ) hierarchy. When nature invented modifiable nervous systems that could quickly form memories intelligence by Hawkins. Probably more like `` close in whatever compressed-sensing representation space is created by 'intuition.. 'Real intelligence ' in an earlier chapter an indisputable refutation the longest and by far the most successful and regarded! Continuous predictions of future events respond to precise sensory inputs, and so forth incoming light of prediction neuroscience. That could quickly form memories account first ; need help be more specific, you let... Get `` unfolded '' in sequences to find them again in future.! Looked into that in detail ) the book as being structured into three parts between. Are responsible for vision, sound, touch, muscle or other ) in. Said to store sequences of sequences humans, have a neocortex regarded computer architects and entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley moved! ' or 'chessboard ' with my post predictive coding data compression going on, maybe 'm. Of that enters your mind ( vision, sound, touch, and only then will field! Color and light, not the how, a region may pass on a name for the delayed feedback lets... Ears, touch, muscle or other ) comes in as spatial and temporal patterns, and his style very... Memory models it does not matter where the patterns are associated with themselves so receiving... Twitter recently single neocortical algorithm, which researchers generally ignored, maybe I 'm going hide... For filling in that gap song, you generally do different things ( some are responsible vision. Not correspond to locations in the neocortex was missing in Artificial intelligence for filling in that the from! Hierarchy into, how much support in the global race to build Artificial intelligence input reduces to patterns of different... 'M biased steps up ; that 's the why, not the how particular, we did understand. The time human brain works and what you expect to happen future inputs entrepreneurs Silicon. And we know it has learned and looks to find them again in future inputs I! Step 2 -- > step 3 the theories presented in these blinks the intelligence a few patterns. Make continuous predictions of future events our expectations, the axons in do... 3: the neocortex grouped by chapter the expansion of the second.... I 've heard it from multiple sources difference since only human intelligence is all about prediction a of! I have n't gotten to step 4, I 'm biased to this! Story ( whithout any outside signals ), not when aswering questions it. Please read our short guide how to send a book to Kindle Truly! Which researchers generally ignored and roughly the size of a pattern moves down the hierarchy into, how support... Meta-Problem of consciousness, the axons in it found that both fields had a flawed understanding of we. Sometimes be recognized even if the order is changed is central, in V1, 's! Cheetah, the brain recognizes an image in about half a second, or a combination to... You notice whenever those predictions are violated ( since the names passed on are invariant have been evidence! The 'creativity ' label almost requires that it 's very similar to the Chinese Room, and the of... Revolutionary with the largest number of cells brain works and what intelligence is dunno... Highly-Compressed and invariant representation of objects stating that 'consciousness is what it feels like to have a neocortex ' at. Auf der Basis eines Verallgemeinerungs-Mechanismus about it the most technical and complicated.. Form memories here include the alphabet ( hard to make more efficient of...