The Experience Machine: Cognitive Philosopher Andy Clark on the Power of Expectation and How the Mind Renders Reality

We can no more experience the world “prediction and expectation free” than we could surf without a wave.

When the brain strongly predicts a certain sight, a sound, or a feeling, that prediction plays a role in shaping what we seem to see, hear, or feel.

Through prediction, your brain constructs the world you experience. It combines bits and pieces of your past and estimates how likely each bit applies in your current situation. This happened when you simulated the bee in chapter 2; once you’d seen the full photograph, your brain had a new experience to draw on, so it could instantly construct a be

During the experience, expectations actually have the ability to change how we experience the world around us.

Instead, all human experience arises at the meeting point of informed predictions and sensory stimulations.