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Evolution, not Intelligence, produces Intelligence

Wiring Diagrams

Evolution, not Intelligence, produces Intelligence

February 3, 2022

In his book ‘The Myth of Artificial Intelligence’ Erik Larson makes the argument that there is no known instance of any known type of intelligence producing something more intelligent than itself. Of course, past failure need not predict future failure. Unless there is a fundamental roadblock. So, let’s explore what can produce intelligence, shall we? The futurist’s notion remains that…

Podcast on ‘Brain Inspired’ with Paul Middlebrooks

January 6, 2022

Paul Middlebrooks from braininspired.co: ‘Robin and I discuss many of the ideas in his book The Self-Assembling Brain: How Neural Networks Grow Smarter. The premise is that our DNA encodes an algorithmic growth process that unfolds information via time and energy, resulting in a connected neural network (our brains!) imbued with vast amounts of information from the “start”. This contrasts…

From Imprecision to Robustness in Neural Circuit Assembly: Research Unit awarded

December 20, 2021

The German Research Foundation (DFG) has founded a new research unit headed by Peter Robin Hiesinger that will examine the fundamental principles of brain development. The research unit includes thirteen principal investigators who are involved in nine closely linked research projects that explore how variability affects brain development despite identical genetic information. The researchers working in the nine projects within…

Is Artificial Intelligence today where brain research was 100 years ago?

November 20, 2021

Babies are not born with randomly connected brains and turned on to learn.  And yet, 100 years ago, neurobiologists were not so sure.  In fact, most of them rather liked the idea, because they disliked the alternative: the development of intelligent brains without learning – as if embryo development could determine who you are.  100 years ago, neurobiologists had only…

Podcast ‘The Self-Assembling Brain’ with Waseem Akhtar on Bridging the Gaps

November 8, 2021

Bridging the Gaps: A Portal for Curious Minds has released a 1-hour podcast in which Waseem Akhtar and Robin Hiesinger discuss the motivation and thesis of ‘The Self-Assembling Brain’. This is a wide-ranging discussion, starting with the history of neurobiologists arguing about the existence of neurons as physiological units that need to ‘wire up’, to the question: How does information…

Reviews on goodreads.com

October 28, 2021

Goodreads is the world’s largest site for readers and book recommendations. It provides an interactive platform for all books of the world to be discussed, reviewed and recommended to fellow readers. As of October 2021, The Self-Assembling Brain has been added by 150 readers and received 11 ratings with an average of 4.73 (out of 5). The reviews are truly…

Carne Esperta Podcast

September 5, 2021

A curious interview – by an Artificial Intelligence from the future, trying to understand humans. What can The Self-Assembling Brain tell us? Podcast available here: Google Podcasts Spotify

BDTechTalks

In-Depth Book Review and Interview on TechTalks and VentureBeat

August 18, 2021

You can find a very thoughtful book review, summary and discussion of questions arising from The Self-Assembling Brain in the in-depth book review from August 16 at TechTalks here. The same review was also picked up by the VentureBeat, a leading media authority in artificial intelligence and machine learning. TechTalks is an influential site that examines trends in technology, how…

The Royal Institution Lecture

Royal Institution Lecture on Youtube – 68K views after 4 weeks!

July 31, 2021

The Royal Institution hosted a one and a half hour live lecture and discussion on The Self-Assembling Brain and the cross-talk of biological and artificial neural network research. Thanks to 800 participants for signing up, watching it live or over the next week via the Royal Institution video link. The lecture is online since July 2 on Youtube. Thanks for…