I’m pleased to share some exciting news to kick off the new year.
New Peer-reviewed Paper
Our research paper A Framework for Intelligence and Cortical Function Based on Grid Cells in the Neocortex was published this month in the journal Frontiers in Neural Circuits. The preprint version of this paper, which we shared in October 2018, was one of the most downloaded papers of bioRxiv in 2018. The paper proposes “The Thousand Brains Theory of Intelligence,” a novel theory for intelligence and cortical computation.
Thousand Brains Blog and Hangout
For a high level overview of the Thousand Brains Theory of Intelligence, I encourage you to read this new blog post that our Co-founder Jeff Hawkins and I wrote. The Thousand Brains Theory is a new way of thinking about intelligence and how the cortex works, based on our proposal that instead of building one model of an object or concept, the brain builds many models of each object simultaneously. We think this theory has far-reaching implications in neuroscience and AI, and we’re excited to see how it will impact the effort to build intelligent machines.
In addition to the blog, we have several resources available for you to learn more about our latest research and breakthrough theory, including a companion piece intended for a broad audience, and a screencast recording of Jeff’s keynote presentation from the Human Brain Project Summit.
On January 23 at 9am PST, our Open Source Community Manager Matt Taylor will host a “Thousand Brains Hangout” with Jeff and our VP of Research Subutai Ahmad. They’ll discuss the theory and answer questions. If you have questions on the theory, our papers, or how our research can be applied to machine intelligence, you can submit them ahead of time on our open source forum. If you can’t attend live, we’ll share the recording after the event.
Numenta in Quanta Magazine
The Thousand Brains Theory and our new journal paper were highlighted in Quanta Magazine this month, in an article, “The Brain Maps Out Ideas and Memories Like Spaces.” The piece examines recent scientific research about grid cells that suggests “the brain encodes abstract knowledge in the same way that it represents positions in space, which hints at a more universal theory of cognition.”
Numenta On Intelligence Podcast Episode with Donna Dubinsky
Lastly, the latest episode in our Numenta On Intelligence podcast series features an interview with our CEO Donna Dubinsky. We try to feature a variety of content on our podcast, with some episodes going deep into neuroscience topics and others intended for a more general audience. This 20 minute episode is the latter. Donna discusses the challenges of navigating a science and machine intelligence mission, the importance of commercializing our efforts, and where she sees Numenta going. Download and listen wherever you get your podcasts, and let us know what you think.
Thank you for continuing to follow Numenta.
Christy Maver • VP of Marketing