The Emergent Mind

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What to expect

‘Excellent’ – Geoffrey Hinton, the ‘godfather of AI’ and Nobel laureate in Physics
‘An indispensable guide to both ourselves and the coming age of AI’ – Mustafa Suleyman, bestselling co-author of The Coming Wave

Written by experts at the forefront of cognitive science and artificial intelligence, The Emergent Mind is an essential read for anyone captivated by the mysteries of human intelligence or the transformative rise of AI.

Have you ever wondered how our minds work – how we think, feel, and act? How is this different from artificial intelligence? And with AI advancing so rapidly, how are these two worlds beginning to intersect?

In this groundbreaking book, leading scientists Gaurav Suri and Jay McClelland answer these urgent questions by exploring a powerful idea called ‘emergence’ – the concept that complex systems can form from the interaction of simple parts. By applying this to both the human brain and AI, they reveal how mind-like abilities take shape.

By using the concept of neural network – the same framework inspired by the human brain that powers today’s AI – this book offers a clear and engaging guide to understanding intelligence. The Emergent Mind offers a fascinating tour of our minds, showing how we make decisions, why we change our minds and how our thoughts are shaped by our experiences. It's a groundbreaking look at how a data-driven neural network can create thoughts, emotions, and ideas – a mind – in both humans and machines.

‘Fascinating’ – Lisa Feldman Barrett, author of How Emotions Are Made
‘Deeply stimulating and disarmingly accessible’ – Robert Sapolsky, author of Determined
‘Lucid, invaluable’ – Steven Pinker, author of Rationality

Critics Review

The chatbots we have today use artificial neural networks that were originally developed as models of how the mind works. This book does an excellent job of explaining the ideas that led to these neural networks without requiring any prior knowledge of either mathematics or psychology. Important concepts like distributed representations are explained gently and skilfully. After reading this book, you will have a much better understanding of both chatbots and the mind
Geoffrey E. Hinton, 2024 Nobel laureate in Physics
This book takes you on a fascinating journey to discover how a three-pound blob of meat between your ears – your brain – dynamically wires itself to the world to create the whirlwind of electrical, chemical and magnetic signals called *your mind*. Can AI have a mind? Read this book and see what you think
Lisa Feldman Barrett, author of How Emotions Are Made
Neural networks define both our brains and, no accident, modern AI systems. Each is built out of simple processing units. But linked together these building blocks create systems of immense complexity that underpin not just our intelligence but our wants, goals and even consciousness. This book tells the vital, fascinating story of how. By providing a clear account of how mind-like abilities emerge – in both humans and machines – Suri and McClelland offer an indispensable guide to both ourselves and the coming age of AI
Mustafa Suleyman, bestselling co-author of The Coming Wave
Start with a type of simple building block, throw a zillion copies of them together and – more is different! – the blocks self-organize into a complex system with properties indescribable at the reductive level. Nowhere is this phenomenon more interesting than when ‘mind’ emerges from billions of neurons, and no one is better positioned to explain how neural networks produce minds than these pioneering authors. This superb book is deeply stimulating and disarmingly accessible
Robert Sapolsky, author of Determined
Jay McClelland is one of the most influential living cognitive psychologists, having pioneered the revival of neural network modelling of cognition which led to the ‘Great AI Awakening’ of the past decade. Together with Gaurav Suri, he has now written a lucid, invaluable introduction to neural networks and their implications for understanding the human mind
Steven Pinker, author of Rationality
Have you ever wondered how your mind works? How we make decisions? Whether we’re ‘rational’? To find out, read this book!
Carol Dweck, author of Mindset

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