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The Experience Machine

How Our Minds Predict and Shape Reality

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The Experience Machine

By: Andy Clark
Narrated by: Andy Clark
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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

For as long as we've studied the mind, we've believed that information flowing from our senses determines what our mind perceives. But as our understanding of neuroscience and psychology has advanced in the last few decades, a provocative and hugely powerful new view has flipped this assumption on its head. The brain is not a passive receiver, but an ever-active predictor.

At the forefront of this cognitive revolution is widely acclaimed philosopher and cognitive scientist Andy Clark, who has synthesized his ground-breaking work on the predictive brain to explore its fascinating mechanics and implications. Among the most stunning of these is the realization that experience itself, because it is guided by prior expectation, is a kind of controlled hallucination. This even applies to our bodies, as the way we experience pain and medical symptoms is shaped by our expectations. From the most mundane experiences to the most sublime, it is our predictions that sculpt our experience.

A landmark study of cognitive science, The Experience Machine lays out the extraordinary explanatory power of the predictive brain for our lives, mental health and society.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2022 Andy Clark (P)2022 Penguin Audio Biological Sciences Neuroscience & Neuropsychology Mental Health Human Brain
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Critic reviews

A predictably groundbreaking exploration of the predictive basis of our extended minds from one of our deepest and clearest thinkers, and a true pioneer of this transformational view of who we are and how we work.The Experience Machine delivers a remarkable combination of profound insight and practical relevance, and it showcases Clark's ability to convey complex ideas with fluent and accessible language (Anil Seth, author of BEING YOU: A NEW SCIENCE OF CONSCIOUSNESS)
Rare among science books, this one has changed the way I experience the world. I now feel the experience machine doing its work as I pay attention, am surprised, or catch myself having made completely ridiculous predictions. It's a book that will help you understand the way you see, think and act-and it is also a pleasure to read (Susan Blackmore, author of CONSCIOUSNESS: AN INTRODUCTION and THE MEME MACHINE)
It's tempting to think that our eyes and ears passively record the world like cameras and microphones, but our perceptions are much more interesting than that. Andy Clark is a leading figure in understanding the brain as a prediction machine -- we don't passively take in the world, we're constantly anticipating it and interpreting it accordingly. This thoroughly readable book will convince you that the brain and the world are partners in constructing our understanding (Sean Carroll, author of THE BIGGEST IDEAS IN THE UNIVERSE)

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Profile Image for Magnus H.

I was fascinated by this book and would highly rec

Andy Clark, a widely acclaimed philosopher and cognitive scientist, presents a groundbreaking perspective in his latest book. Traditionally, it was believed that our mind's perceptions were shaped by information flowing from our senses. However, recent advancements have overturned this assumption. With research backing, Andy shows that the brain is not a passive receiver but an active predictor, constantly anticipating and shaping our experiences.

At the forefront of this cognitive revolution, the book delves into topics ranging from psychology and science to artificial intelligence and beyond. It offers a compelling and insightful exploration of how our understanding of the mind is evolving.

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Profile Image for James Burnell

Well read and a great handling of a difficult but rewarding topic.

Loved this book. Great steps forward to getting rid of the destructive model of humans as limited data processing units.

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Profile Image for Frank Amin

Fascinating stuff

It took me a little while to get into this, but then realised I needed to listen and learn more. A fascinating look at the mind’s mechanisms and the operations behind ‘prediction’ - learning and forward thinking.

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Profile Image for Rory Gascoigne

Paradigm shifting

A fantastic exploration of the Predictive Processing theory of human cognition.

If you have any interest in human behaviour or philosophy of mind, get this book! A better collective understanding of the predictive brain will play a big role in the future of the human species.

After reading Clark’s more academic work Surfing Uncertainty, it is great to see this more accessible, yet still diligently detailed book on the same topic.

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Profile Image for Tout en chantant

Very badly written

I could not get on with this book at all. I found it very badly written and and poorly read by the author. He repeats himself to exhaustion without ever dealing squarely with the subject. Beating round the bushes and failing to construct a solid exposition. It is unbearably boring, in short.

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