How to Build a Brain

We know how to build things — houses, bridges, and bookshelves. And when we build, we follow instructions: blueprints and manuals.

But living things don’t follow fixed instructions. They grow. And that might be a very different kind of thing.

This essay is about what happens when we stop trying to build artificial brains — and we start trying to grow them. It’s about the difference between code that executes and code that unfolds. As AI systems get more powerful, the line between what’s built and what grows is starting to blur.

So it's worth asking: Could a neural network ever grow like a brain? And if it could… would it matter?

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