The laws of thought : the quest for a mathematical theory of the mind / Tom Griffiths.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Griffiths, Tom, 1978- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Thought and thinking.

Cognitive science.

Science.

thinking.

Mathematics.

Physical Description:

xviii, 377 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm.

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : Henry Holt and Company, [2026]

Summary:

"From the coauthor of Algorithms to Live By, an exploration of the quest to use mathematics to describe the ways we think, from its origins three hundred years ago to the ideas behind modern AI systems and the ways in which they still differ from human minds. Everyone has a basic understanding of how the physical world works. We learn about physics and chemistry in school, letting us explain the world around us in terms of concepts like force, acceleration, and gravity--the Laws of Nature. But we don't have the same fluency with concepts needed to understand the world inside us--the Laws of Thought. While the story of how mathematics has been used to reveal the mysteries of the universe is familiar, the story of how it has been used to study the mind is not. There is no one better to tell that story than Tom Griffiths, the head of Princeton's AI Lab and a renowned expert in the field of cognitive science. In this groundbreaking book, he explains the three major approaches to formalizing thought--rules and symbols, neural networks, and probability and statistics--introducing each idea through the stories of the people behind it. As informed conversations about thought, language, and learning become ever more pressing in the age of AI, The Laws of Thought is an essential read for anyone interested in the future of technology." -- Provided by publisher

Contents:

Turning Aristotle into arithmetic

Computing a cognitive revolution

Solving problems

Language as a formal system

The limits of logic

Categories, spaces, and features

Computing with spaces

Brain models and mind models

The plot deepens

Language as a prediction problem

The missing question

Probability is the new logic

Universal laws of cognition

Language as a probability distribution

Putting it all together.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [305]-360) and index.

ISBN:

9781250358356

1250358353

OCLC:

1513889587

Publisher Number:

90103645805