Cognition Is a Function of the Environment | Matt Botvinick and Lex Fridman

The presentation examines the computational mechanisms underlying human cognition and artificial intelligence, contrasting the Turing machine's universal emulation capabilities with the brain's adaptive, capacity-limited nature. It highlights how collective intelligence emerges through distributed convergence while debating whether individual or community structures best define intelligence. Furthermore, the discussion emphasizes that cognitive development relies heavily on the dynamic interaction between neural architectures and environmental structures, as evidenced by DeepMind's self-play research which identifies competitive agent interactions as essential for complex learning.