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The Emergent Mind

How Intelligence Arises in People and Machines
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The Emergent Mind

By: Gaurav Suri, Jay McClelland
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About this listen

'Excellent' - Geoffrey Hinton, the 'godfather of AI' and 2024 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 and CEO of Microsoft AI

How does our consciousness — our ability to think, feel and act — actually work? How is this human intelligence different from artificial intelligence? And as we stand on the brink of a new era of machine intelligence, how are these realms of intelligence beginning to intersect?

In The Emergent Mind, leading scientists Gaurav Suri and Jay McClelland offer a groundbreaking new perspective on these urgent questions. By examining the concept of emergence — where complex systems arise from the interaction of simple elements — they reveal how mind-like abilities form in both human intelligence and AI.

Drawing on the foundational idea of neural networks, a framework inspired by the human brain and now the bedrock of modern AI, this insightful book offers a clear and accessible path to understanding how intelligence takes shape. 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. they are showing how a data-driven neural network can create thoughts, emotions and ideas — a mind — whether in humans or machines.

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

©2025 Gaurav Suri, Jay McClelland (P)2025 Macmillan Publishers International Limited Computer Science Machine Theory & Artificial Intelligence Neuroscience & Neuropsychology Psychology Psychology & Mental Health

Critic reviews

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)
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 and CEO of Microsoft AI)
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)
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)
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)
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