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Gershman takes us on a trip through psychology, neuroscience, computer science, linguistics, and economics to show how human intelligence is governed by a set of common principles. First, there is inductive bias. Any system that draws conclusions from limited data must limit its hypotheses in some way before it looks at data. Second, there is approximation bias. Any system that has to draw conclusions and make decisions with limited information must use approximations.
What Makes Us Smart: The Computational Logic of Human Cognition
How a computational framework can account for the successes and failures of human cognition
At the heart of human intelligence rests a fundamental puzzle: How are we incredibly smart and stupid at the same time? No existing machine can match the power and flexibility of human perception, language, and reasoning. Yet, we routinely commit errors that reveal the failures of our thought processes. What Makes Us Smart makes sense of this paradox by arguing that our cognitive errors are not haphazard. Rather, they are the inevitable consequences of a brain optimized for efficient inference and decision making within the constraints of time, energy, and memory―in other words, data and resource limitations. Framing human intelligence in terms of these constraints, Samuel Gershman shows how a deeper computational logic underpins the “stupid” errors of human cognition.
Embarking on a journey across psychology, neuroscience, computer science, linguistics, and economics, Gershman presents unifying principles that govern human intelligence. First, inductive bias: any system that makes inferences based on limited data must constrain its hypotheses in some way before observing data. Second, approximation bias: any system that makes inferences and decisions with limited resources must make approximations. Applying these principles to a range of computational errors made by humans, Gershman demonstrates that intelligent systems designed to meet these constraints yield characteristically human errors.
Examining how humans make intelligent and maladaptive decisions, What Makes Us Smart delves into the successes and failures of cognition.
Editorial Reviews
Review
"A fascinating tour of many of the deepest questions about the human mind, from one of the world's leading cognitive scientists. You'll feel smarter for having read it!"―Nick Chater, author of The Mind Is Flat
“In What Makes Us Smart, Gershman turns his creative and fertile mind to writing a compelling defense of the seeming impurities of our reason. He examines the broad and deep implications of the limited data and computation under which the rest of us labor, and his analysis is reassuring and revealing in equal measure.”―Peter Dayan, Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics
“What Makes Us Smart is a tour de force. Gershman draws from many sources and fields, including psychology, economics, philosophy, physics, and even law. This makes for a compelling big-picture testimony to the power of rational theories in real-world decisions. This book is likely to change the way you think about the mind.”―Wei Ji Ma, New York University
“What Makes Us Smart provides an accessible introduction to some of the deepest questions in cognitive science―and maybe even some of the answers!"―Tom Griffiths, coauthor of Algorithms to Live By
About the Author
Product details
- Publisher : Princeton University Press (October 19, 2021)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 224 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0691205701
- ISBN-13 : 978-0691205700
About the author
Samuel Gershman is a Professor in the department of Psychology and Center for Brain Science at Harvard University.
