From the inventor of the PalmPilot comes a new and compelling theory of intelligence, brain function, and the future of intelligent machines

Jeff Hawkins, the man who created the PalmPilot, Treo smart phone, and other handheld devices, has reshaped our relationship to computers. Now he stands ready to revolutionize both neuroscience and computing in one stroke, with a new understanding of intelligence itself.

Hawkins develops a powerful theory of how the human brain works, explaining why computers are not intelligent and how, based on this new theory, we can finally build intelligent machines.

The brain is not a computer, but a memory system that stores experiences in a way that reflects the true structure of the world, remembering sequences of events and their nested relationships and making predictions based on those memories. It is this memory-prediction system that forms the basis of intelligence, perception, creativity, and even consciousness.

In an engaging style that will captivate audiences from the merely curious to the professional scientist, Hawkins shows how a clear understanding of how the brain works will make it possible for us to build intelligent machines, in silicon, that will exceed our human ability in surprising ways.

Written with acclaimed science writer Sandra Blakeslee, On Intelligence promises to completely transfigure the possibilities of the technology age. It is a landmark book in its scope and clarity.

傑夫·霍金斯(Jeff Hawkins)，成功的計算機工程師和企業傢，掌上型電腦PalmPilot、智能電話Treo等産品的發明人。他創建瞭兩傢大名鼎鼎的公司——Palm Computin和Handspring，成立瞭緻力於對記憶和認知研究的“紅杉”神經係統科學研究所，同時，也是Cold Spring Harbor實驗室科學委員會的一名成員。

最後，霍金斯及其閤夥人又宣布成立Numenta（源自拉丁語，意為“頭腦”）公司，旨在把《人工智能的未來》一書中關於大腦的理論轉化為實用技術。

桑德拉·布拉剋斯莉(Sandra Blakeslee)，《紐約時報》科普專欄作傢，著有多部暢銷科普作品。