43 min listen
BI 181 Max Bennett: A Brief History of Intelligence
FromBrain Inspired
ratings:
Length:
88 minutes
Released:
Dec 25, 2023
Format:
Podcast episode
Description
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Check out my free video series about what's missing in AI and Neuroscience
By day, Max Bennett is an entrepreneur. He has cofounded and CEO'd multiple AI and technology companies. By many other countless hours, he has studied brain related sciences. Those long hours of research have payed off in the form of this book, A Brief History of Intelligence: Evolution, AI, and the Five Breakthroughs That Made Our Brains.
Three lines of research formed the basis for how Max synthesized knowledge into the ideas in his current book: findings from comparative psychology (comparing brains and minds of different species), evolutionary neuroscience (how brains have evolved), and artificial intelligence, especially the algorithms developed to carry out functions. We go through I think all five of the breakthroughs in some capacity. A recurring theme is that each breakthrough may explain multiple new abilities. For example, the evolution of the neocortex may have endowed early mammals with the ability to simulate or imagine what isn't immediately present, and this ability might further explain mammals' capacity to engage in vicarious trial and error (imagining possible actions before trying them out), the capacity to engage in counterfactual learning (what would have happened if things went differently than they did), and the capacity for episodic memory and imagination.
The book is filled with unifying accounts like that, and it makes for a great read. Strap in, because Max gives a sort of masterclass about many of the ideas in his book.
Twitter:
@maxsbennett
Book:
A Brief History of Intelligence: Evolution, AI, and the Five Breakthroughs That Made Our Brains.
0:00 - Intro
5:26 - Why evolution is important
7:22 - Maclean's triune brain
14:59 - Breakthrough 1: Steering
29:06 - Fish intelligence
40:38 - Breakthrough 3: Mentalizing
52:44 - How could we improve the human brain?
1:00:44 - What is intelligence?
1:13:50 - Breakthrough 5: Speaking
Check out my free video series about what's missing in AI and Neuroscience
By day, Max Bennett is an entrepreneur. He has cofounded and CEO'd multiple AI and technology companies. By many other countless hours, he has studied brain related sciences. Those long hours of research have payed off in the form of this book, A Brief History of Intelligence: Evolution, AI, and the Five Breakthroughs That Made Our Brains.
Three lines of research formed the basis for how Max synthesized knowledge into the ideas in his current book: findings from comparative psychology (comparing brains and minds of different species), evolutionary neuroscience (how brains have evolved), and artificial intelligence, especially the algorithms developed to carry out functions. We go through I think all five of the breakthroughs in some capacity. A recurring theme is that each breakthrough may explain multiple new abilities. For example, the evolution of the neocortex may have endowed early mammals with the ability to simulate or imagine what isn't immediately present, and this ability might further explain mammals' capacity to engage in vicarious trial and error (imagining possible actions before trying them out), the capacity to engage in counterfactual learning (what would have happened if things went differently than they did), and the capacity for episodic memory and imagination.
The book is filled with unifying accounts like that, and it makes for a great read. Strap in, because Max gives a sort of masterclass about many of the ideas in his book.
Twitter:
@maxsbennett
Book:
A Brief History of Intelligence: Evolution, AI, and the Five Breakthroughs That Made Our Brains.
0:00 - Intro
5:26 - Why evolution is important
7:22 - Maclean's triune brain
14:59 - Breakthrough 1: Steering
29:06 - Fish intelligence
40:38 - Breakthrough 3: Mentalizing
52:44 - How could we improve the human brain?
1:00:44 - What is intelligence?
1:13:50 - Breakthrough 5: Speaking
Released:
Dec 25, 2023
Format:
Podcast episode
Titles in the series (99)
BI 100.1 Special: What Has Improved Your Career or Well-being?: Brain Inspired turns 100 (episodes) today! To celebrate, my patreon supporters helped me create a list of questions to ask my previous guests, many of whom contributed by answering any or all of the questions. Ive collected all their responses into separ by Brain Inspired