The Emergent Mind: How Intelligence Arises in People and Machines

As heard on BBC Radio 4 Start the Week

A New Scientist Best Book of the Year
A Next Big Ideas Club Book of the Year

‘Excellent’ – Geoffrey Hinton, the ‘godfather of AI’ and 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

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

Have you ever wondered how our minds work – how we think, feel, and act? How is this different from artificial intelligence? And with AI advancing so rapidly, how are these two worlds beginning to intersect?

In this groundbreaking book, leading scientists Gaurav Suri and Jay McClelland answer these urgent questions by exploring a powerful idea called ‘emergence’ – the concept that complex systems can form from the interaction of simple parts. By applying this to both the human brain and AI, they reveal how mind-like abilities take shape.

By using the concept of neural network – the same framework inspired by the human brain that powers today’s AI – this book offers a clear and engaging guide to understanding intelligence. The Emergent Mind offers a fascinating tour of our minds, showing how we make decisions, why we change our minds and how our thoughts are shaped by our experiences. It's a groundbreaking look at how a data-driven neural network can create thoughts, emotions, and ideas – a mind – in both humans and machines.

‘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