Surfing uncertainty
prediction, action, and embodied mind
by Clark, Andy · first published 2016
63% recommend33% neutral3% critical
Why HN recommends it
Book-length account of the predictive processing view of the brain as a prediction machine, with Bayesian-style updating across subsystems. Suits readers wanting depth on mind, perception and consciousness.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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Cool videos! A nice written introduction to the topic of predictive coding is Scott Alexander's book review of "Surfing Uncertainty" by Andy Clark: https://slatestarcodex.com/2017/09/05/book-review-surfing-un...
on “A Magician Explains Why We See What’s Not There” ↗There is no wind there is no flag there are no monks only your mind. Its really not just semantics. Skip the Buddhism and go read Andy Clark's Surfing Uncertainty. Its humorously written, its current science and it'll blow your mind ;)
on “Ask HN: Mind bending books to read and never be the same as before?” ↗Very interesting. One thing he touches on a little bit is our understanding of the mind. If anyone wants a very recent (philosophical?) take on how the mind works, check out Andy Clark's book Surfing Uncertainty.
on “Chomsky – The Machine, the Ghost and the Limits of Understanding (2012) [video]” ↗…our brains are, in fact, unique, that we don't all experience the world the same way We can only hope (and work towards) that will change. Of all the things I've read in the last year, Andy Clark's "Surfing Uncertainty" [0] has most changed my view on the experience of being. You can read a synopsis at the link, but my quick take is that its core premise is that based on the totality of our life experience, our brain…
on “The Evolution of Pleasure and Pain” ↗See also the book _Surfing Uncertainty_ (https://www.amazon.com/Surfing-Uncertainty-Prediction-Action...) which convincingly details many brain subsystems as approximating Bayesian updates.
on “Are our brains Bayesian? (2016)” ↗* (Theory) Surfing Uncertainty by Andy Clark Basically a unified theory of consciousness. 100% must read. * (Theory) The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind by Julian Jaynes A bit long winded but it really…
on “Ask HN: Mind bending books to read and never be the same as before?” ↗…machines, which obviously rely on all sorts of pattern matching to make said predictions. You can look up Karl Friston's free energy principle or check this book for more details https://www.amazon.com/Surfing-Uncertainty-Prediction-Action...
on “GPT-3 Creative Fiction” ↗Andy Clark's Surfing Uncertainty[1] is a nice monograph of the topic 1: https://oxford.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.1093/a...
on “To be energy-efficient, brains predict their perceptions” ↗Andy Clark, in his book "Surfing Uncertainty", has a pretty convincing explanation, at least to my armchair estimation. You can read a review of his book at SlateStarCodex to get the gist of the argument. https://slatestarcodex.com/2017/09/05/book-review-surfing-un...
on “What You (Want to)* Want” ↗Human mind as prediction machine is actually pretty popular theory. See for example “Surfing Uncertainty. Prediction, Action, and the Embodied Cognition” by Andy Clark https://www.amazon.com/Surfing-Uncertainty-Prediction-Action...
on “Richard Stallman's thoughts on ChatGPT, AI and their impact on humanity” ↗Also an armchair philosopher and I enjoy thinking about these things a lot. The theory you've described is the one that seems to have the most explanatory power. Andy Clark's "Surfing Uncertainty-Prediction, Action, and the Embodied Mind" is a book-length exploration of this idea. Highly recommend.
on “Brains are not required to think or solve problems – simple cells can do it” ↗Good idea. Especially the data ownership flip. Check out Philosopher Andy Clark's work (Surfing Uncertainty/Natural-Born Cyborgs) on these kind of "mind extension" tools. His work was before LLMs showed up, but is still very useful food for thought, while designing this kind of stuff.
on “The good kind of personal intelligence by making data work for us” ↗Anyone curious about psychedelic methods of action, particularly based on their personal experience, should read Surfing Uncertainty or at least the SSC review/summary of it. The predictive processing interpretation of these drugs is that they change the balance between top-down predictive generative models from our "deep" brain and…
on “The high-stakes race to engineer new psychedelic drugs” ↗…were chillingly novel. I think like with most things about the human brain, we overestimate complexity and declare creativity ineffable. But that should be suspiciously flattering. If you haven't read Surfing Uncertainty, do. It's right up your alley. Not a casual read, but I was happy just getting the drift.
on “Natural language is the lazy user interface” ↗What you're saying is not in any way in conflict with the predictive processing model, as far as I can see. You might want to read the article he posted earlier where he reviews Surfing Uncertainty[0]. It discusses this model in more detail. [0] http://slatestarcodex.com/2017/09/05/book-review-surfing-unc...
on “Toward a Predictive Theory of Depression” ↗