Jeff Hawkins, founder of PDA pioneers Palm Inc. and Handspring Inc. has started Numenta Inc. with the goal of facilitating systems that mimic the brain’s neocortex, the structure seen as responsible for the evolution of intelligence. Called hierarchical temporal memory, it’s based on Hawkins’ theory described in his 2004 book, On Intelligence. “These systems aren’t reproducing systems; there’s no life here,” he says. “It’s just thinking; it’s very cerebral.”