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NOTE: Italic page references indicate figures.
Abbeel, Pieter, 279–80
abiogenesis, 19–22
accumulation, 305–6, 307, 307–8, 308
acquisition, 82, 83, 84, 370
action potentials, 33, 33–34, 37, 38
active inference, 216–17, 223
active learning and AI, 278–80
actor-critic reinforcement learning, 106–7, 107, 118, 120, 121
acute stress response, 69–72
adaptation, 35–37, 36, 54, 74, 370
adrenaline, 70–72, 71
Adrian, Edgar, 32–37, 33
aerobic respiration, 23, 24, 374n
affect (affective states), 60, 60–63, 90, 370
of nematodes, 61–64, 62, 63
role of neuromodulators in first bilaterians, 65–67, 66
stress and worms, 69–72
African origins of modern humans, 238–39, 290, 324–28, 341, 343
agranular prefrontal cortex (aPFC), 206, 207, 208–9, 211–13, 216–20, 222–23, 223, 224, 226–30, 232, 255–60, 259, 370
AI. See artificial intelligence
akinetic mutism, 204–5, 206–7
“alien limb syndrome,” 229
all-or-nothing law, 33, 38
allyships, 249–50, 266
AlphaZero, 201–4, 211, 318
altruism, 333–36, 337–40, 339, 358
ALVINN (Autonomous Land Vehicle in a Neural Network), 278–79
American Sign Language, 299
amino acids, 18
amniotes, 159–60, 165n, 241
amphibians, 133, 159, 237
amygdala, 149, 150, 165, 166, 208, 219–20, 258, 286, 314–15, 321
anaerobic respiration, 23, 24
anemones, 29, 30, 38, 74, 80, 93
anhedonia, 73–74
Anomalocaris, 122–23
antelopes, 241–42, 302, 303, 328
anticipating future needs, 285–88, 289–90, 290, 295, 296, 360
Suddendorf and Bischof-Kohler hypothesis, 284–88, 392n
theory of mind and, 286–87, 287
antidepressants, 65
antioxidants, 21
antipsychotics, 65
ants, 94, 147–48
anxiety, 59, 65, 69–70
aphasia, 314–15
Aquinas, Thomas, 86
archosaurs, 161, 163
Aristotle, 13–14, 14, 295
arousal, 59, 60, 60–61, 73–75
arthropods, 93–94, 114n, 157–58, 377n
artificial intelligence (AI), 2–5, 11–12, 363–64
active teaching and, 278–80
brain and, 9–10, 11
challenge of pattern recognition, 127–28
continual learning problem, 81–82
first robot, 49–52
Minsky’s SNARC, 103–5
Mountcastle’s theory, 171
origins of term, 103
paper-clip problem, 352–53
theory of mind and, 265–66
artificial neural networks, 127, 127–28
artificial superintelligence (ASI), 265, 352, 363–64
associative learning, 78–81, 87–88, 90, 370
acquisition, 82, 83, 84, 370
blocking, 85, 85–86, 90, 104, 195, 370
continual learning problem, 81–84, 83
credit assignment problem, 84–86, 85
extinction, 82, 83, 371
overshadowing, 85, 85–86, 90, 104, 195, 371
reacquisition, 82–84, 83, 86, 90, 371
spontaneous recovery, 82–84, 83, 86, 90, 371
time course of, 82–84, 83
attention, 218–20, 318–20, 321, 336, 350
audition, 171, 172, 174
auditory cortex, 167–68, 170
Australopithecus, 323, 341
auto-association, 130–31, 135, 139, 151, 152, 176, 370
automation, 228, 229–30
avoidance, 52–53, 63, 79–80, 115–17, 219
axons, 32, 37, 130
baboons, 43, 243, 248, 283
backpropagation, 128, 137n, 139, 370
bacteria, 18–20, 48–49
Bagnell, Drew, 279
Barto, Andrew, 105–6
basal ganglia, 95–96, 96, 117–21, 152, 165, 208, 212–11, 215–16, 219–20, 229–30, 253–54
bees, 43, 94, 116, 116n, 147, 296
behavioral AI, 49–51
behavioral economics, 215
behavioral inhibition, 219–20
behavioral states, 62–63
Bentham, Jeremy, 43
Berridge, Kent, 67–68, 72
bilateral symmetry, 43, 44, 45–46, 370
bilaterians, xiv, 43, 44, 45, 45–56, 90, 370
affect, 74–75
associative learning, 80–81, 84–88, 132, 152, 302
chronic stress response, 72–75
credit assignment in, 195–96, 196
dopamine and, 114
early brain, 58, 80, 96, 153, 184
how they recognized things, 124–25, 125
prediction in, 184, 185
role of neuromodulators in affective states in, 65–67, 66
Roomba, 51–52
steering, 46–49, 49, 52–53, 81
synapses, 87–88
valence and, 52–55, 54, 57–58, 119
bipedalism, 325–26, 329, 395n
bird feathers, 340
birds, xiv, 13, 160n, 163, 164, 182, 196, 198, 238, 268, 317, 322, 335, 340
Bischof, Doris, 284
Bischof, Norbert, 284
Bischof-Kohler hypothesis, 284–88
blindness, 167, 170–71, 181, 183, 204
blocking, 85, 85–86, 90, 104, 195, 370
Boesch, Christophe, 276
bonobos, 244, 284, 297, 299–300, 313, 316, 364
bootstrapping, 107–9, 152, 259, 265, 361
Bostrom, Nick, 352
brain
AI and, 9–10, 11
anatomy, xiii, 5–6, 7, 95–96, 96, 253–54. See also specific regions
evolution. See brain evolution
first model of the world, 146–51
five breakthroughs, 10–11. See also specific breakthroughs
language in, 310–17, 338–40, 339
MacLean’s triune brain hypothesis, 8–9, 9
similarities across animal kingdom, 6–8
size of. See brain size
brain evolution, 6–8, 13–14, 93, 323, 323–24, 359–61
first mammals, 164–66, 166
five breakthroughs, 10–11, 39
social-brain hypothesis, 239–41
valence and nematodes, 52–55, 54
vertebrate template, 94–96, 95, 97
brain scaling, 253–55, 296
brain size, 239, 253–55, 254, 323, 323–24, 330
neocortex ratio, 240, 240–41
brainstem, 117–18, 312, 315
breakthroughs, 10–11, 359–65
#1: steering. See steering
#2: reinforcing. See reinforcement learning
#3: simulating. See simulation
#4: mentalizing. See mentalizing
#5: speaking. See language
evolution of progressively more complex sources of learning, 302, 302–3
Broca, Paul, 310–11
Broca’s area, 310–12, 311, 313–14, 316, 320–21
Brooks, Rodney, 49–51
Brunet-Gouet, Eric, 260
Buddhism, 192
buffalo, 241
Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans), 47, 47, 58, 375n
caloric surplus, 328–29, 358
Cambrian explosion, 93–94, 95, 140
Cambrian period, 93, 122–23
can’t-unsee property of perception, 174–75, 175
carbon dioxide, 20–22, 22, 57, 158
Carboniferous period, 159, 162
Carnegie Mellon University, 278, 279
catastrophic forgetting, 131–33, 135, 140, 199, 371
cats, 43, 186
learning, 97–101, 115
motor cortex, 223, 224, 224–25, 226
visual cortex, 135–36
causation vs. correlation, 195–96
cellular respiration, 21–23, 22
cephalopods, 157
Charles Bonnet syndrome, 181
ChatGPT, 2–3, 132, 344
chauvinism, 13
cheating, 333–34, 337–38, 396n
chess, 2, 105, 109, 200, 201
chimpanzees, xiv, 239
brain and brain size, 6, 240, 254, 290, 330, 342, 393n
communication, 296, 297, 299–300, 313, 315, 315–16, 319
diet and nesting locations, 282–84
grooming, 247, 249–50, 335
mating styles, 329
mental maps of, 244–46
motor cortex, 222
observational learning, 306
reciprocal altruism, 335
skill transmission, 273–77, 279
social structures, 243, 244–47, 250
theory of mind, 264
tool use, 267–68, 273
Chomsky, Noam, 340
chronic stress response, 72–75
classical conditioning, 76–79, 80, 82, 85–86
climate change, 158
Cnidarians, 379n
Coates, Adam, 279–80
“cocktail-party effect,” 174
Cohen, Neal, 131–32, 135
coincidence detection, 88n
communication, 296–99. See also language
altruism problem, 340
attempts to teach apes language, 299–301
emotional expressions, 314, 314–17
transferring thoughts, 301–7
concepts, 61, 301–2
conditional reflexes, 77–78
connectionism, 97–100
consciousness, 309, 390n
constrained hallucinations, 181–82
content-addressable memory, 130–31
continual learning problem, 81–84, 83, 371
catastrophic forgetting, 131–33
convolutional neural networks (CNNs), 137–40, 137n, 138, 139n, 371
cooking, 328–29, 358
cooperation strategies, 303–5, 304
copper barrier, 55, 56n, 57, 374n
corals (coral polyps), 29–31, 30, 31, 38, 47, 81, 90
correlation vs. causation, 195–96
cortex, 95–96, 96, 117, 129, 129–31, 133, 152
cortical columns, 168–72, 169, 211, 216–17, 386n
microcircuitry of, 171–72, 172
counterfactual learning, 192–96, 193, 232
cravings, 68, 219–20, 227–30
credit assignment problem, 84–86, 90, 104, 371
evolution of, 195–96, 196
original four tricks for tackling, 84–86, 85
temporal, 105–7, 113, 120, 152, 200, 371
Cretaceous period, 162
crows, 186, 267–68
cruelty, 12, 336, 340, 358
cultural bias and emotions, 59–60
curiosity, 142–45, 152, 382n
cyanobacteria, 19–21, 20, 24, 158, 238
cynodonts, 161, 162
Dale, Henry, 37
Damasio, Antonio, 204–5, 206, 217
dard, 59
Darwin, Charles, 7, 295, 330
Dawkins, Richard, 305
Dayan, Peter, 110, 112, 113, 175–77
DeCasien, Alex, 283–84
deception, 245, 252
declarative labels, 297–98, 300
decorrelation, 130
Deep Blue, 108–9
DeepMind, 142, 201
AlphaZero, 201–4, 211
deliberative choices, 208–13, 210
step #1: triggering simulation, 210, 210–11
step #2: simulating options, 210, 211–12
step #3: choosing an option, 210, 212–13
DeLong, Caroline, 139
Democritus, 86
dendrites, 32, 129
depression, 59, 65, 69, 73–74
Descartes, René, 86, 87
detour tasks, 190–92
Devonian period, 157–58, 162
de Waal, Frans, 239–40
diabetes, 378–79n
Dickinson, Tony, 213–14
diet, 238–39, 251–52, 282–84, 326, 327, 328–29
digestion, 28–29, 76–77
dinosaurs, 159–60, 160n, 161, 162, 163, 164, 233, 237–38, 241
disappointment, 115–17
discounting, 113
discrimination problem, 125–26, 126, 129–30, 130
dishwashing robots, 2, 4, 230
diurnal, 238
DNA, 18, 20, 304–5, 363
Dobzhansky, Theodosius, 7
dogs, xiv, 77–78, 82, 97, 186, 239, 242, 246–47, 274
dolphins, xiv, 238, 239, 239, 246, 274, 365
dominance, 242–43, 244, 247–48
dopamine, 64–69, 66, 88, 118, 119, 152, 165, 359, 376n, 381n
dorsal cortex, 165n, 383n
dreams (dreaming), 182, 183
drug addiction, 110, 144, 227–30
dualism, 86–87
Dunbar, Robin, 239–41, 282, 290, 337–38
East Side apes, 325, 325–26
Eccles, John, 37–38
ecological-brain hypothesis, 282–84, 290
Ediacaran period, 46, 46–48, 84, 93–94, 94
Edison, Thomas, 305
electricity, 4, 32, 305
electrophysiology, 32–33
elephants, xiv, 223, 238, 239, 267–68, 326
eligibility traces, 84–86, 85, 88, 90
Elman, Jeffrey, 317–18
“embodiment,” 224
emotion, categories of, 59–60
emotion, origin of, 59–75
the blahs and blues, 72–75
dopamine and serotonin, 64–69, 66
steering in the dark, 61–64
stress and worms, 69–72
emotional expression system, 315, 315–16, 394n
empathizing, 262
endurance running, 328
entropy, 17–18, 20, 363
Epicurus, 86
episodic memory, 13, 196–99, 232–33, 303, 385n
ether, 32
eukaryotes, 23–24, 24, 25, 28, 374n
euphoria, 68, 74
evagination, 383n
evolution, 359–62
arms race for political savvy, 237–39, 251–52
of the brain. See brain evolution
Cambrian explosion, 93–96
fungi, 27–31, 31
Homo Erectus and emergency of human hive mind, 336–41
Homo Erectus and rise of humans, 326–30
human lineage and proliferation, 13–15, 14, 323, 323–24, 341, 341–43
of language, 302, 302–3, 330–33, 332, 358–59
of nervous system, 26–27
neural dark ages, 157–66
origins of life, 17–22
Pavlov and origin of learning, 76–79
of prediction, 184, 185
of progressively more complex sources of learning, 302, 302–3
shared developmental stages for all animals, 28–29, 29
of temporal difference learning, 103–21
tension between the collective and the individual, 241–44
tree of life. See tree of life
exaptation, 340
excitatory neurons, 38, 65
executive control, 218
expansion recoding, 129–30, 130
exploitation, 66, 68, 376n
exploitation-exploration dilemma, 142–43, 152
extinction, 82, 83, 371
extinction events, 158–59
Late Devonian Extinction, 158–59, 162, 238
Permian-Triassic extinction event, 160–61, 237–38, 251
eye, 117, 135–37, 332–33
eyewitness testimonies, 197–98
Facebook, 144
facial expressions, 314, 314–15, 394n
dopamine and reward, 67, 67–68
Fadiga, Luciano, 268–69
false-belief tests, 261–62, 354, 389n, 397n
Sally-Ann test, 260–62, 261, 262, 264
fear, 61, 63, 117, 123, 125–26
female hierarchies, 248–49
ferrets, 170
Feynman, Richard, 10
field dependence, 229
fight-or-flight response, 70
filling-in property of perception, 173, 173
fire, use of, 328–29
firing rate, 33, 33–36, 371
first model of the world, 146–51
inner compass, 148–49
maps of fish, 146–48
medial cortex, 149–51
first move, 163–64
fish, 100–102, 193, 233, 334
avoidance tasks, 115, 116, 116n, 117
brain, 132–33, 139–40, 164–65, 165n
catastrophic forgetting, 132–33
communication, 296
evolution and tree of life, xiv, 157, 158–59, 162, 164–65, 194, 237, 241
invariable problem, 139–40
maps of, 146–48, 190–91, 384n
observational learning, 274–75, 275
reinforcement learning, 100–102, 110, 115, 144
smell and nose, 123–24, 124, 125–26
vestibular sense, 148, 148–49
flatworms, 49, 85, 116, 125
Fogassi, Leonardo, 268–69
forebrain, 95–96, 96, 119
Franklin, Benjamin, 4
freeloaders, 333, 335, 337
free time, 251–52
friendships, 250, 252
Friston, Karl, 216–17, 223–24
frugivores, 251–52, 282–84, 288
Fukushima, Kunihiko, 136–38
full signals, 58
fungi, 24, 27–31, 31, 31n
Gallese, Bittorio, 268–69
gambling, 144–45
gap junctions, 37, 37
gastrulation, 28–29, 29
generalization problem, 126, 126
generative mode (generative models), 177–81, 371
Helmholtz machine, 177–79, 178
neocortex as, 181–83, 188, 222, 258–60
predicting everything, 183–87, 185
StyleGAN2, 179, 179–81
genes, 18, 20, 304–5, 363
genome, 317
gestures, 296–97, 301, 310, 313–14, 315–16
Go (game), 2, 201–3, 202
goal-driven behavior, 213–17
goal hierarchy, 226–31, 228
Goodall, Jane, 267–68, 315–16
Google, 344
DeepMind, 142, 201
gorillas, 239, 243, 299–300, 313
gossip, 337–38, 339, 358
GPT-3 (Generative Pre-trained Transformer 3), 3–4, 344–51, 354–55, 355
GPT-4 (Generative Pre-trained Transformer 4), 354–56, 355
grammar, 297–98, 300, 336
“grandmothering,” 329
granular prefrontal cortex (gPFC), 206, 226, 255–60, 259, 262, 263, 289, 290, 371
granule cells, 206
Great Ape Dictionary, 296
Great Oxygenation Event, 21, 238, 374n
Great Rift Valley, 324–25
grief, 59–60
grocery shopping, 284–88
grooming, 247, 249–50, 335
group living, 241–44
group selection, 333–36, 337, 395n
habitual behavior, 213–15
Haldane, J. B. S., 334
hallucinations, 181–83
Harari, Yuval, 303
harems, 242–44, 243, 388n
Harvard University, 97
head-direction neurons, 149
Heath, Robert, 68
Hebb, Donald, 88
Hebbian learning, 88–89, 130
Helmholtz, Hermann von, 175–76, 180–82, 185
Helmholtz machine, 177–79, 178, 180, 182, 371
heroin addiction, 230
hindbrain, 95–96, 96, 149, 165
Hinton, Geoffrey, 6, 127–28, 175–77, 182
hippocampus, 149–51, 165, 190, 196, 198–99
Hippocrates, 31–32
Hobbes, Thomas, 86, 330
Homo erectus, 323, 326–30, 331–32, 341
emergence of the human hive mind, 336–41
Homo floresiensis, 341, 341–42
Homo neanderthalensis, 323, 331, 341, 342–43
Homo sapiens, 297, 301, 323, 331–32, 341, 342–43, 361
horses, xiv, 223, 238, 239
Hubel, David, 135–36, 137
human proliferation, 341, 341–43
human uniqueness, 295–309
attempts to teach apes language, 299–301
communication, 296–99
the singularity, 307–9
transferring thoughts, 301–7
Humphrey, Nicholas, 239–40
hunger, 58, 62, 79, 79–80, 119, 286, 287
hypothalamus, 95–96, 96, 119–21
IBM Research, 108–9
ideas, 301–2, 305–6, 307–8
illusions, 172
imagination, 182–83, 186–87, 303
imitation (imitation learning), 98–99, 274–75, 277–81, 289–90, 290, 306–7
AI and, 278–81
imperative labels, 297, 300
inductive bias, 138, 140
inference, 175–77, 180–82, 185
inhibitory neurons, 38, 65
inner compass, 148–49
inner ear, 124, 135, 140, 148–49
Instagram, 144
intention, 205, 208–9, 245–47, 257, 260
internal models, 146, 147, 151. See also models
intuitions, 60–61, 146
invariance problem, 133–40, 134, 151
inverse reinforcement learning, 277–81
invertebrates, 94–95, 95, 114n, 116, 144, 151, 157, 237
involuntary associations, 78
iPhone, 127
iRobot, 51
jellyfish, xiv, 27, 28, 29, 34, 38, 39, 43, 74, 80
Jennings, Ken, 109
Jetsons, The (TV show), 1–2, 132
Johns Hopkins University, 131, 135
Johnson, Adam, 190
joint attention, 318–20, 321, 336, 337, 358
Jurassic period, 162, 233
Kahneman, Daniel, 215
Kanada, 86
Kandel, Eric, 76
kangaroos, xiv, 223
Kanzi (bonobo), 299–300, 320
Kasparov, Garry, 108–9
kin selection, 334–36, 337
knowledge, 132, 246–47, 257
koalas, xiv, 223
lamprey fish, 95, 118–19, 123, 129
language, 185–86, 297–99, 309, 318–19
attempts to teach apes, 299–301
in the brain, 310–17, 338–40, 339
breakthrough #5 summary, 358, 360–61
emergence of the human hive mind, 336–41
evolution of, 302, 302–3, 330–33, 332, 358–59, 360
relationship between mentalizing and, 353–54
transferring thoughts, 301–7
language curriculum, 317–21
large language models (LLMs), 2–3, 344–50, 356–57
GPT-3, 3–4, 344–51, 354–55, 355
GPT-4, 354–56, 355
last universal common ancestor (LUCA), 19–20, 24
Late Devonian extinction, 158–59, 162, 238
latent inhibition, 85, 85–86, 90, 104, 195, 380n
Late Permian extinction event, 160–61, 237–38, 251
lateral cortex, 149–51, 150, 165, 166
law of effect, 99–100, 103, 144, 189, 213
layer four, 172, 206, 206n, 216, 217
Leakey, Louis, 267
Leborgne, Louis Victor, 310
LeCun, Yann, 10, 137n, 186, 200, 356
Lemoine, Blake, 344
limbic system, 8–9, 9
lizards, 159–60, 161
logic, 50, 185–86
luminance, 34–35, 35n
lying (liars), 334, 337, 396n
macaque monkeys, 222, 240, 243, 244, 256, 268, 313, 329, 330
McCloskey, Michael, 131–32, 135
Machiavellian apes, 244–47
machine learning, 12, 84
MacLean, Paul, 8–9, 371n
mammals. See also specific mammals
brain, 95, 113–14, 135–36, 149–50, 163–66, 166, 186–87, 203–4, 205, 205–7, 232–33, 253–55
control and, 218–20
credit assignment in, 195–96, 196
Era of Mammals, 238–39, 239
evolution and tree of life, xiv, 162, 163, 238–39, 239
evolutionary tension between the collective and the individual, 241–44
goals and habits, 213–15
inner duality of, 213–15
making choices, 209–13
motor cortex, 223, 223–26
motor hierarchy, 226–28, 227, 228
neocortex, 206–8, 207, 209, 209, 232–33, 256
neocortex ratio, 240, 240–41
prediction in, 184, 185
primate politics, 247–52
simulating actions, 163–64
visual cortex, 135–38
materialism, 86–87
medial cortex. See hippocampus
memes, 305
memory, 76, 116
attention and self-control, 218–20
catastrophic forgetting, 131–33
episodic, 196–99, 232–33
working, 187, 218, 219–20
mentalizing, 289–91, 290, 361, 371
breakthrough #4 summary, 289–91, 360
evolution of progressively more complex sources of learning, 302, 302–3, 360
relationship between language and, 353–54
Menzel, Emil, 244–45
Mestral, George de, 4
metacognition, 258
mice, 163–64, 226, 283, 296
midbrain, 95–96, 96, 110, 117, 165
mind. See models; theory of mind
Minsky, Marvin, 2, 103–5, 120, 200
mirror neurons, 268–73
mirror self-recognition tests, 257, 264
mirror-sign syndrome, 257–58
models (modeling)
first. See first model of the world
frontal vs. sensory neocortex in first mammals, 209, 209
mind to model other minds, 263–65
other minds, 260–63, 261
own mind, 258–60, 259
model-based reinforcement learning, 199, 199–200, 201–20, 371
AlphaZero, 201–4, 211, 318
attention, working memory, and self-control, 218–20
evolution of first goal, 215–17
goals and habits, 213–15
mammals making choices, 209–13
predicting oneself, 208–9
prefrontal cortex and controlling the inner simulation, 204–8, 205, 207
model-free reinforcement learning, 199, 199–200, 201, 211, 212, 215–16, 318, 359–60, 371
Molaison, Henry, 196–97, 198
mongooses, 267–68, 274, 275
monkeys, xiv, 194, 247–48, 269–71, 284–85, 287–88, 316
Montague, Read, 110, 112, 113
Morse code, 33
motivation, 73–74
motor cortex, 206, 221–26, 222, 232, 241, 360
language and, 312
leading theory on evolution of, 222–23, 223
mirror neurons, 268–73
missing layer four, 206, 206n
predictions, 223–26
motor hierarchy, 226–31, 227, 228
motor planning, 224–26, 270, 271
Mountcastle, Vernon, 168–70, 289
multicellular organisms, 24, 24–26, 25, 28
multi-male groups, 242–44, 243, 387n
myths, 303–4, 304
Naqshbandi, Miriam, 284–85, 285n, 287–88
natural selection, 330, 340, 363
nature and intelligence, 4–6
‘nduh, 59
negative-valence neurons, 53–55, 54, 56–57, 61, 100
nematodes, xiv, 46–48, 47, 94, 101, 147
affective states of, 61–64, 62, 63
dopamine and serotonin, 64–69, 66, 114
problem of trade-offs, 55–57, 56
steering, 46–49, 48, 49, 53–54, 54
stress, 69–71, 73–74
temporal difference learning, 115–16, 116n
tweaking goodness and badness of things, 79, 79–80
valence and, 52–55, 54
neocortex, 8–9, 9
anatomy, 167–72, 168, 205. See also agranular prefrontal cortex; cortical columns; granular prefrontal cortex; motor cortex
counterfactual learning, 192–96, 193
episodic memory, 196–99
evolution, 163–64, 165–66, 166, 188, 289–90
functions, 218–20, 289–90
as a generative model, 181–83, 188, 222, 258–60
language and, 312–17, 315
layers, 169, 171–72, 172
MacLean’s triune brain hypothesis, 8–9, 9
new neocortical regions of early primates, 255–56, 256
new regions in primates, 255–56, 256, 263–64
perception, 172–75
prediction, 183–87, 185
ratio, 240, 240–41
sensory. See sensory neocortex
use of term, 167n
vicarious trial and error, 189–92
neocortical columns. See cortical columns
nepotism, 252
nerves, 32
nervous system, 26–27, 32
nervus, 32
neural circuits, 38–39, 39, 56, 86, 90
Neurogammon, 109
neuromodulators, 64–69, 66, 70–72, 71, 88, 165, 359, 371. See also specific neuromodulators
role in affective states of first bilaterians, 65–67, 66
neurons, 5, 7, 19, 26, 26–27, 28–29, 31–32
Adrian’s discoveries, 32–37, 33
cortical column, 168–72, 169
history of neuroscience, 31–39
negative-valence, 53–55, 54, 56–57, 61
positive-valence, 53, 54, 56–57
response of dopamine to predictive cues, rewards, and omissions, 110–14, 112
neurotransmitters, 37–38, 87
Newton, Isaac, 32
New York University (NYU), 283–84
Ng, Andrew, 279–80
NMDA receptors, 88n
Nobel, Alfred, 76
Nobel Prize, 32, 37, 76
nocturnal, 238
nonassociative learning, 80n
norepinephrine, 70, 123, 377–78n
observational learning, 272–77, 275, 280–81, 306, 360
“obstetric dilemma,” 329
octopamine, 70, 377n
octopuses, xiv, 14, 15, 157, 267–68, 275, 364
Oldowan tools, 326–27, 327
olfactory neurons, 123–30, 124, 129, 135
expansion and sparsity, 129–30, 130
olfactory receptors, 123–24, 124, 381n
one-at-a-time property of perception, 173–74, 174
On the Origin of Species (Darwin), 7, 330
OpenAI, 132, 354, 355, 356
opioids, 70–72, 71, 74
opposable thumbs, 238
origin of emotion. See emotion, origin of
origins of life, 17–22
orthogonalization, 130
overshadowing, 85, 85–86, 90, 104, 195, 371
oxygen, 21, 27
Oxygen Holocaust, 21
pair-bonding mammals, 242–44, 243, 329
paper-clip problem, 352–53
parasitic strategy, 28n
Parkinson’s disease, 118
pattern recognition, 122–41, 165
catastrophic forgetting, 131–33
computers and, 127–28
cortex, 129, 129–31
discrimination problem, 125–26, 126
generalization problem, 126, 126
invariance problem, 133–40, 134
problem of recognizing a smell, 123–26
pattern separation, 130, 133
Pavlov, Ivan, 76–79, 80, 82, 85–86, 98
Pellegrino, Giuseppe di, 268–69
perception, 172–75, 218
can’t-unsee property of, 174–75, 175
filling-in property of, 173, 173
one-at-a-time property of, 173–74, 174
Permian, 159, 160, 161, 162, 169
Permian-Triassic extinction event, 160–61, 237–38, 251
persistence hunting, 328
phagotrophy, 23–24, 28
photosynthesis, 20–22, 22, 23, 24, 27
physics, 17–18, 195–96, 350, 363
Pinker, Steven, 353
placoderms, 157
Plato, 86, 87, 330
political power, 247–52
Pomerleau, Dean, 278–79
positive-valence neurons, 53, 54, 56–57, 100, 119
predation, 93, 122–23, 243
predictions, 208–13, 210, 223–26
evolution of, 184, 184–85
motor commands and, 223–26, 271
neocortex and, 183–87, 209
reward-prediction, 111, 113, 114n, 115, 213–14
step #1: triggering simulation, 210, 210–11
step #2: simulating options, 210, 211–12
step #3: choosing an option, 210, 212–13
predictive cues, 84–86, 111, 112, 121
prefrontal cortex, 209. See also agranular prefrontal cortex; granular prefrontal cortex
controlling the inner simulation, 204–8, 205, 207
premotor cortex, 226, 229, 230
mirror neurons, 268–73
primates. See also specific primates
acquiring novel skills through observation, 275–77
anticipating future needs, 285–88
counterfactual learning, 194–95
ecological-brain hypothesis, 282–84, 290
evolution and tree of life, xiv, 238–39, 239, 243–44, 289–91
evolution of progressively more complex sources of learning, 302, 302–3
modeling mind to model other minds, 263–65
modeling other minds, 260–63, 261
modeling own mind, 256–60, 259
motor cortex, 206, 221, 222, 222–23, 223, 268–73
neocortex, 240, 240–41, 313–14, 360
new neocortical regions of, 255–56, 256, 263–64
skill transmission, 273–77, 275
social-brain hypothesis, 239–41, 282
social politics, 247–52, 281
social structures, 242–44, 243
theory of mind. See theory of mind
tool use, 267–68, 273–75
visual cortex, 253–55, 254
primate sensory cortex (PSC), 255, 258–59, 354, 371
procedural memory, 197
proteins, 18–19
protein synthesis, 18–19
proto-conversations, 318–20, 336–37
protolanguages, 331–32, 336, 358
psychedelics, 65
psychic stimulation, 77–78
punishment, 337–38, 358, 396n
puzzle boxes, 98, 98–99, 99, 101, 103, 115, 277, 306
radial symmetry (radiatans), 43, 44, 45, 53, 54, 80
Ramón y Cajal, Santiago, 37
rate coding, 34–37, 36, 38
rats, xiv
anticipating future needs, 284–85, 285n, 287
brain, 8, 78, 149, 150, 169, 189–90, 198–99, 206, 207, 213–14, 223, 224, 229
detour tasks, 191–92
dopamine and pleasure, 66
dopamine and stimulation, 65, 66–69, 110
episodic memory, 198–99
observational learning, 274, 276–77
regret in, 193, 193–94
role of habits, 213–14
role of play, 241
spinal cord, 78, 86
variable-ratio reinforcement, 144
vicarious trial and error, 189–90, 191–92, 209–10, 212, 220
reacquisition, 82–84, 83, 86, 90, 371
reciprocal altruism, 335–36
reciprocity, 250, 252
recognition. See also pattern recognition
mirror self-recognition tests, 257, 264
neocortex and, 182–83, 188
recognition modes, 177–79, 178
Redish, David, 190, 193, 193–94
register-addressable memory, 130–31
regrets, 192, 193, 193–94
reinforcement learning, 101–6, 164–65, 192–93, 359–61
based on actual rewards, 107–8, 108
based on temporal differences in expected rewards, 107–8, 108
breakthrough #2 summary, 152–53, 359–60
evolution of progressively more complex sources of learning, 302, 302–3
importance of curiosity in, 142–45
model-based. See model-based reinforcement learning
model-free. See model-free reinforcement learning
Thorndike and, 96–101
relief, 115–17
REM sleep, 182, 384n
reptile brain, 8–9, 9
reptiles, xiv, 159–61, 162, 165, 165n, 296
respiration, 21–23, 22, 27, 374n
ribosomes, 18
Rizzolatti, Giacomo, 268–69
Roberts, William, 284–85, 285n, 287–88
robotics
first robot, 49–52
imitation learning, 278–81
Rochester Institute of Technology, 139
rock, paper, scissors (game), 194–95
Roomba, 51, 51–52, 53, 58, 64
Rosey the Robot, 1–2, 5, 51, 132
Ross, Stephane, 279
Rousseau, Jean-Jacques, 330
Rumelhart, David, 127–28
rumination, 192–93
salamanders, 159
Salk Institute, 110
Sally-Ann test, 260–62, 261, 262, 264
salt, 79, 79–80, 81
Sapiens (Harari), 303
satiation, 62, 62, 63, 66, 69, 287
Savage-Rumbaugh, Sue, 300
“scale of nature,” 14
Schultz, Wolfram, 111–13, 112, 115
search problem, 200, 202, 203, 209, 211, 232
Searle, John, 303
second law of thermodynamics, 17–18
sehnsucht, 59–60
seizures, 196–97, 198
selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), 378n
self-concept (sense of self), 217, 264, 390n
self-control, 219–20
self-driving cars, 278–79
Selfish Gene, The (Dawkins), 305
self-reference, 257
self-replication, 18, 19
semicircular canals, 148, 148–49
sensitization, 80n
sensory neocortex, 197, 198, 205, 205–6, 211–13, 216–17, 232, 258–59, 371
in first mammals, 209, 209
serotonin, 64–69, 66, 71–72, 73, 88, 359, 376n, 378n
Sherrington, Charles, 37
sign language, 299, 311–12
simulation, 163–64, 361
breakthrough #3 summary, 232–33, 360
evolution of progressively more complex sources of learning, 302, 302–3, 360
GPT-3 and LLMS, 349–51
hierarchy of goals, 228, 229–30
making choices and, 210, 210–13
survival by, 163–64
simulation theory, 263–64
skill transmission, 273–77, 275
Skinner, B. F., 100, 144
sleep, 181, 182
smell, 34, 38, 47, 53–54, 123–26, 135. See also olfactory receptors
Smith, Neil, 312
snakes, 159–60, 162
social-brain hypothesis, 239–41, 282, 290
social groups, 241–44
social hierarchy, 242–44, 247–52, 265–66
social media, 144–45
social projection theory, 263–64, 389n
solitary mammals, 242–44, 243
“source of error,” 77
spandrels, 340
spatial maps, 146–48
vestibular sense, 148, 148–49
speaking. See language
spiders, 93, 158, 364
spike (firing) rate, 33, 33–36, 371
spontaneous recovery, 82–84, 83, 86, 90, 371
squirrel monkeys, 284–85, 287–88
squirrels, 163, 226, 271
“squishing problem,” 35–37
steering, 46–49, 49, 57–58, 61–64, 64
bilaterians, 46–49, 49, 52–53
breakthrough #1 summary, 90, 359
Roomba, 51–52, 53, 64
“steer in the dark,” 64
Steiner, Adam, 193–94
stimulants, 65
stimulus strengths, 33–34, 34, 36
Stochastic Neural-Analog Reinforcement Calculator (SNARC), 103–5
stress, 69–72, 71, 90
acute stress response, 69–72
ancient stress cycle, 71–72, 72
chronic stress response, 72–75
stroke victims, 171, 204–5, 221, 222
StyleGAN2, 179, 179–81
submission, 242–43, 247–48
Suddendorf, Thomas, 284, 285, 286–88, 392n
sugar, 20, 21–22, 27–28
Superintelligence (Bostrom), 352
superior temporal sulcus (STS), 255n, 371
supervised learning, 128, 176, 180
Sutton, Richard, 105–9, 113, 118, 120, 121, 142–43, 203
sweat (sweating), 328
symbolic AI, 49–51
symbols, 297–98, 300
synapses, 37, 37–38, 87–89, 88, 118, 371
system 1 thinking, 215
system 2 thinking, 215
TD-Gammon, 109, 110, 142, 201, 318, 380n
temperature navigation, 54–55
temporal credit assignment problem, 105–7, 113, 120, 152, 200, 371
temporal difference learning (TD learning), 103–21, 106, 142–43, 152, 198–99, 203, 371
basal ganglia, 117–21
emergence of relief, disappointment, and timing, 115–17
exploitation-exploration dilemma, 142–43, 152
grand repurposing of dopamine, 110–14
magical bootstrapping, 105–9
temporal difference signals (TD signals), 107, 111–14, 152, 372
temporoparietal junction (TPJ), 255n, 256, 354, 372
terraforming of Earth, 19–22
Tesauro, Gerald, 108–9, 110
tetrapods, 159, 162
thalamus, 95–96, 96, 117, 133, 134, 139–40, 172, 172, 382n
theory of mind, 246–47, 260–66, 268, 289–90, 290, 372
acquiring novel skills through observation, 275–77
anticipating future needs and, 286–87, 287
childhood development and, 264, 390n
modeling mind to model other minds, 263–66
politicking and, 281
Sally-Ann test for, 260–62, 261, 262, 264
therapsids, 160–61, 162
Thinking, Fast and Slow (Kahneman), 215
thispersondoesnotexist.com, 179, 179–80
Thorndike, Edward, 96–100, 98, 101, 110, 111, 115, 189
Thorpe, Chuck, 278–79
thought transfer, 301–7
time perception, 173–74, 174
timing, 116–17, 152
Tolman, Edward, 189–90, 244
tool use, 267–68, 273–75, 284, 327–28, 358
Oldowan tools, 326–27, 327
trade-offs, 55–57, 56
translation, 139
transmissibility, 273–77, 275
tree of life, xiv, 23–25, 24, 43, 45, 162
Cambrian ancestors, 94–95, 95
humans, 341, 341–43
mammals, 238–39, 239
neuron-enabled animals, 29–30, 30
radial vs. bilateral symmetry, 44
trial-and-error learning, 99, 99–100, 101, 103–4, 110–11, 142–43, 152
vicarious, 189–92, 211, 212–13, 232–33, 360, 361
Triassic period, 162
Permian-Triassic extinction event, 160–61, 237–38, 251
tribalism, 252, 364
triune brain hypothesis, 8–9, 9, 373n
Tsimpli, Ianthi-Maria, 312
Turing, Alan, 103
turtles, 159–60, 162, 319
Tyrannosaurus, 161
uncertainty, 210–11, 214
unconditional reflexes, 78
unconscious inference, 175–77, 180–82, 185
ungating, 117–18, 120, 381n
University College London, 216
University of California, Berkeley, 189
University of California, San Diego, 317
University of Massachusetts Amherst, 105–6
University of Michigan, 67
University of Minnesota, 190
University of Parma, 268–69
University of Western Ontario, 284
unsupervised learning, 176
utilization behavior, 229
V1 (visual area 1), 135–37, 136
V2 (visual area 2), 136, 136
V4 (visual area 4), 136, 136
valence, 4, 52–59, 54, 90, 119, 372
variable-ratio reinforcement, 144
Velcro, 4
ventral cortex, 149–51, 150, 165, 166
Venus flytraps, 30n
vertebral column, 94
vertebrates. See also specific vertebrates
brain, 94–96, 97, 110–11, 118–19, 120, 120–21, 122, 129, 129, 132–33, 139–40, 140, 149, 153, 164–66, 259
cortex, 129, 129–31, 149–51, 151, 164–66, 166
credit assignment in, 195–96, 196
evolution and tree of life, xiv, 94–96, 95, 96, 100, 162, 233, 360
how they recognized things, 124–25, 125
prediction in, 184, 185
smell and nose of, 123–26, 124
temporal difference learning, 110, 114, 115–16, 118–19, 143–44, 192–93, 194
vervet monkeys, 247–48, 297, 301–2, 335
vestibular sense, 148, 148–49
vicarious trial and error, 189–92, 211, 212–13, 232–33, 360, 361
vision, 34–35, 124, 172–75
invariance problem, 133–40, 134
visual cortex, 134–37, 139, 167, 170, 253–55, 254
cortical column, 168–72, 169
volition, 216
“wake-sleep algorithm,” 182
Wallace, Alfred, 330–32
wanting, 68–69, 111, 114, 114n
warm-bloodedness, 160–61, 160n, 162, 163, 164–65
Washburn, Sherwood, 329
Wernicke, Carl, 311
Wernicke’s area, 311, 311–12, 313–14, 316, 320–21, 354
whales, xiv, 238, 239, 322
Wiesel, Torsten, 135–36, 137
wildebeests, 334
Williams, Ronald, 127–28
willpower, 219–20
working memory, 187, 218, 219–20
world models, 186, 200, 209, 232
Wrangham, Richard, 328
wrasses fish, 268