Surfing Uncertainty

The brain makes predictions based on an incoming torrent of sensory information.

It seems incredible that brains are chunks of meat that think, and much more besides. Brains make inferences, they have intentions, they imagine fictional worlds, they have frightening dreams, and they feel emotions like anger and love. Regardless of what brains are made of – in science fiction stories, they can be made from silicon or non-carbon-based materials – it remains something of an enigma how any form of matter can be conscious or dream. One way into solving this problem is through the concept of “prediction.” Predictions help the brain navigate the constant, cacophonous flood of incoming sensory information. By attempting to continuously predict the next piece of incoming sensory information, human beings interact with the world through what they think and what they do.

These probabilistic predictions also incorporate degrees of uncertainty. At the neurological level, this means that collections of neurons must be able to predict “organism-salient regularities,” at a variety of dimensions and scales, ultimately revealing a world shaped by human needs. ...