Robohub.org
 

Self-organized criticality in the brain | Quanta


by
06 April 2014



share this:

“Think of sand running from the top of an hourglass to the bottom. Grain by grain, the sand accumulates. Eventually, the growing pile reaches a point where it is so unstable that the next grain to fall may cause it to collapse in an avalanche. When a collapse occurs, the base widens, and the sand starts to pile up again — until the mound once again hits the critical point and founders. It is through this series of avalanches of various sizes that the sand pile — a complex system of millions of tiny elements — maintains overall stability.”

John Payne‘s insight:

Anyone even casually familiar with systems theory will recognize the terms in which this notion is described. To the extent that it holds true for the workings of the human brain, one may expect that it will also prove useful in the development of strong AI.

See on www.simonsfoundation.org




John Payne

            AUAI is supported by:



Subscribe to Robohub newsletter on substack



Related posts :

AI system learns to keep warehouse robot traffic running smoothly

  20 Apr 2026
This new approach adapts to decide which robots should get the right of way at every moment, avoiding congestion and increasing throughput.

Robot Talk Episode 152 – Dexterous robot hands, with Rich Walker

  17 Apr 2026
In the latest episode of the Robot Talk podcast, Claire chatted to Rich Walker from Shadow Robot Company about their advanced robotic hands for research and industry.

What I’ve learned from 25 years of automated science, and what the future holds: an interview with Ross King

and   14 Apr 2026
Ross King created the first robot scientist back in 2009. He spoke to us about the nature of scientific discovery, the role AI has to play, and his recent work in DNA computing.

Robot Talk Episode 151 – Robots to study the ocean, with Simona Aracri

  10 Apr 2026
In the latest episode of the Robot Talk podcast, Claire chatted to Simona Aracri from National Research Council of Italy about innovative robot designs for oceanography and environmental monitoring.

Generative AI improves a wireless vision system that sees through obstructions

  08 Apr 2026
With this new technique, a robot could more accurately detect hidden objects or understand an indoor scene using reflected Wi-Fi signals.

Resource-constrained image generation and visual understanding: an interview with Aniket Roy

  07 Apr 2026
Aniket tells us about his research exploring how modern generative models can be adapted to operate efficiently while maintaining strong performance.

Back to school: robots learn from factory workers

  02 Apr 2026
A Czech startup is making factory automation easier by letting workers teach robots new tasks through simple demonstrations instead of complex coding.

Resource-sharing boosts robotic resilience

  31 Mar 2026
When a modular robot shares power, sensing, and communication resources among its individual units, it is significantly more resistant to failure than traditional robotic systems.



AUAI is supported by:







Subscribe to Robohub newsletter on substack




 















©2026.02 - Association for the Understanding of Artificial Intelligence