Why Brains Don't Compute

Why Brains Don't Compute investigates how human experience generated by the brain connects with the physical world. Author Dale Purves considers this question to be the primary challenge facing modern neuroscience.

Across 25 concise chapters, the book presents evidence indicating that neural mechanisms resolve this problem on an entirely trial-and-error basis. Purves explores the broader meaning of this operational model, arriving at the conclusion that brains do not compute.

The text aims to prompt discussion among computer scientists, philosophers, neuroscientists, and other interested readers. In The Quarterly Review of Biology, reviewer Paul Tibbetts also recommends the volume to evolutionary, cognitive, and behavioral neuroscientists.