Top Highlights

• These predictions occurred in every sensory modality, for low-level sensory features and high-level concepts, which told me that every part of the neocortex, and therefore every cortical column, was making predictions. Prediction was a ubiquitous function of the neocortex.
• The brain creates a predictive model. This just means that the brain continuously predicts what its inputs will be. Prediction isn’t something that the brain does every now and then; it is an intrinsic property that never stops, and it serves an essential role in learning. When the brain’s predictions are verified, that means the brain’s model of t...
• The only way for a brain to learn anything is via changes in its inputs. If the inputs to the brain were static, nothing could be learned.
• The word “model” implies that what we know is not just stored as a pile of facts but is organized in a way that reflects the structure of the world and everything it contains.
• To make progress, we need the flexibility and focus of a start-up environment.