Sam Breed

Product Developer, Investor

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A Thousand Brains

Jeff Hawkins

First posted on

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“What kind of function, or algorithm, can create all aspects of human intelligence?”

Cortical columns and Reference Frames. “The theory says that cortical columns create reference frames for each observed object. Recall that a reference frame is like an invisible, three dimensional grid surrounding and attached to something. The reference frame allows a cortical column to learn the locations of features that define the shape of the object.”

The opening notes to One-finger Snap by Herbie Hancock can play in my head on demand. I can pull the record from the stack in my office and put it on and match the song on the first try. I didn’t know it was Herbie Hancock and I couldn’t have told you the name of the song before I pulled the record out and dropped the needle. I have a reference frame linking the physical object, the copy of Empyrean Isles, the first jazz record I bought from Doug Gaddy at Absolute Vinyl in Boulder. It must have been 2008 or 2009. Maybe later. I can’t remember the events surrounding it. Other than finding that record, and then buying every Herbie album that came through Doug’s store. I know the music without knowing the notes.

“However, reference frames can also be used to organize knowledge of things we can’t directly sense.”

“Thinking is form of movement”

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