The Atomic Human

edit

The Appeal of Parallel Distributed Processing

Authors: James L. McClelland, David E. Rumelhart, Geoffrey E. Hinton

Published in: Parallel Distributed Processing: Explorations in the Microstructure of Cognition, Volume 1, 1986

DOI:

Abstract

Machine Summary

This influential chapter introduces the parallel distributed processing (PDP) approach to cognitive science and artificial intelligence, laying out the core principles of what would become modern neural networks. The authors present a new framework for understanding both human cognition and machine learning through parallel processing of distributed representations.

In The Atomic Human, this work is referenced in Chapter 11’s discussion of neural networks and connectionism. The PDP approach represents a crucial shift away from symbolic AI toward more brain-inspired architectures, influencing modern deep learning and our understanding of both human and machine intelligence.