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A review by _lunaria_
A Thousand Brains by Jeff Hawkins
informative
medium-paced
4.5
Overall an interesting read.
It's a mix of the author telling about the discovery of the theory, as well as how the theory is set up, & some implications it may bring: it's very easy to understand as he wrote it for an audience that isn't familiar with the brain and/ or theories surrounding it (which would include me).
I've read some of the comments here & I have a need to defend the book a bit here:
Hawkins mentions that the theory is still in its infancy, so I feel this is something people have to keep in mind when picking up the book: I'm saying this because it seems that a lot of people who have reviewed it seemed to ignore this, which I think is a shame, because this seems to have led them to dismiss most of, if not the whole, book (trying to say, the book is meant to introduce the theory - why people expect that there would already be experiments on a freshly worked-out theory is beyond me). Another thing that seemed to bother a lot of people was that he talked a lot about how he got the idea for the theory, his lifepath to start working on the theory, etc. -- but seriously, let the man gush a bit about it: after all he put years of work in this, while we only get to read about it. Plus he's separated the topics by chapters, I'm sure skipping the first one or two isn't too much of a hassle if one isn't interested in his lifestory.
To get back on track: the theory in itself is fascinating & does, on paper, make a lot of sense. He doesn't only go into the theory in itself, but covers deeper questions around intelligence later in the book as well (part 1 includes anything surrounding the theory; part 2 is about machine intelligence/ consciousness & what the theory might mean in combination to it; part 3 is about our own intelligence & what the theory might mean in combination to it - also some existential thoughts on it & humanities future options).
I'm looking forward to future papers/ books on this, as I too am interested to see how further research and experiments impact the thousand brains theory.
It's a mix of the author telling about the discovery of the theory, as well as how the theory is set up, & some implications it may bring: it's very easy to understand as he wrote it for an audience that isn't familiar with the brain and/ or theories surrounding it (which would include me).
I've read some of the comments here & I have a need to defend the book a bit here:
Hawkins mentions that the theory is still in its infancy, so I feel this is something people have to keep in mind when picking up the book: I'm saying this because it seems that a lot of people who have reviewed it seemed to ignore this, which I think is a shame, because this seems to have led them to dismiss most of, if not the whole, book (trying to say, the book is meant to introduce the theory - why people expect that there would already be experiments on a freshly worked-out theory is beyond me). Another thing that seemed to bother a lot of people was that he talked a lot about how he got the idea for the theory, his lifepath to start working on the theory, etc. -- but seriously, let the man gush a bit about it: after all he put years of work in this, while we only get to read about it. Plus he's separated the topics by chapters, I'm sure skipping the first one or two isn't too much of a hassle if one isn't interested in his lifestory.
To get back on track: the theory in itself is fascinating & does, on paper, make a lot of sense. He doesn't only go into the theory in itself, but covers deeper questions around intelligence later in the book as well (part 1 includes anything surrounding the theory; part 2 is about machine intelligence/ consciousness & what the theory might mean in combination to it; part 3 is about our own intelligence & what the theory might mean in combination to it - also some existential thoughts on it & humanities future options).
I'm looking forward to future papers/ books on this, as I too am interested to see how further research and experiments impact the thousand brains theory.