Memoir 'Emergence' Chronicles AI Researcher's Rise From Poverty
Dave Sussillo and I are almost exactly the same age. We both grew up in the 8-bit 80s, obsessed with video games and computers. We both became fascinated by the brain, and we both ended up working on computational neuroscience and AI.
Blaise Agüera (@blaiseaguera.bsky.social)@blaiseaguera1. “Emergence: A Memoir of Boyhood, Computation, and the Mysteries of Mind” by @SussilloDavid
It’s moving and remarkable; there are clear parallels with @tarawestover’s hit memoir, “Educated,” which similarly exposes the deep fault lines of social class and poverty in the US. And like Westover, Sussillo can sure write. You will have a hard time putting this one down.
Blaise Agüera (@blaiseaguera.bsky.social)@blaiseagueraOn one level, “Emergence” does a fine job of conveying fundamental ideas in computation, AI, neuroscience, and complex systems theory in a way that laypeople will readily understand. But Sussillo's life story is the main event here.