The Emergent Mind - by Gaurav Suri & Jay McClelland (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

An eye-opening journey into the inner workings of human and artificial minds

When we are trying to solve a problem, what happens? We find ourselves weighing arguments, or relying on intuition, then reaching a conscious decision about what to do. What is going on behind the scenes?

In The Emergent Mind, Gaurav Suri and Jay McClelland show that our experience is the tip of an iceberg of brain activity that can be captured in an artificial neural network. Such networks--initially developed as models of ourselves--have become the engines of artificial neural intelligence. Suri and McClelland aren't reducing mankind to mere machines. Rather, they are showing how a data-driven neural network can create thoughts, emotions, and ideas--a mind--whether in humans or computers.

The Emergent Mind provides a fascinating account of how we reach decisions, why we change our minds, and how we are affected by context and experience. Ultimately, the book gives a new answer to one of our oldest questions: Not just how do minds work, but what does it mean to be a mind at all?

Review Quotes

"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 skillfully. After reading this book you will have much better understanding of both chatbots and the mind."--Geoffrey E. Hinton, 2024 Nobel Laureate in Physics

"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

"Have you ever wondered how your mind works? How we make decisions? Are we 'rational'? To find out, read this book!"--Carol Dweck, author of Mindset

"Jay McClelland is one of the most influential living cognitive psychologists, having pioneered the revival of neural network modeling 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

"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

About the Author

Gaurav Suri is an associate professor of psychology at San Francisco State University. Jay McClelland is a professor of psychology and of computer science and linguistics at Stanford University. His publications have been cited over one hundred thousand times. The authors met in 2014. Both live in the San Francisco Bay area.