HACKER Q&A
📣 rcshubhadeep

Is the science depicted in A Thousand Brains, credible?


I have been reading it for the last few days, although it is a very interesting read and as a ML fellow I could agree with some of the points, but I start to wonder to what degree is this research / science credible? Or is it another alternative approach that mainstream neuroscience community do not really consider (Something like The Physics Project by Wolfarm https://www.wolframphysics.org/)

I am asking this as mighty claims has been made and I do not know where can I see something that shows evidence about it. Also, if these claims are true then how come DL community is not more enthusiastic about them? I am really confused actually.

  👤 mikewarot Accepted Answer ✓
It's a theory, if it leads to predictions that are proven in experiment, then it becomes part of science.

My opinion is that it certainly seems plausible. Jeff Hawkins was recently interviewed by Lex Fridman[1], who has some background in AI research.

  1 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1KwkpTUbkg
👤 hrorq
My general suggestion is to get a little more context about the understanding the brain to extract frameworks of intelligence.

Two books general, popular books on the subject I recommend are:

1/ The Master Algorithm - Pedro Domingos 2/ On Intelligence - Jeff Hawkins

It's a good idea to read Jeff's previous book to see how he's built upon the original vision in A Thousand Brains.

👤 gardenfelder
My somewhat naive view is that Jeff's work is not like DL or much else in the ML field; it's like a fork in the road