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u/RadiantTurnover24

I taught AI the 13 thinking tools that Einstein and Picasso used — it independently discovered laws I spent months extracting manually
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I taught AI the 13 thinking tools that Einstein and Picasso used — it independently discovered laws I spent months extracting manually

What it is

An open-source framework where AI uses the same 13 cognitive tools that history's greatest minds used (from the book "Sparks of Genius" by Root-Bernstein, 1999): observe, imagine, abstract, find patterns, analogize, empathize, play, transform, synthesize, etc.

You give it a goal + data. It thinks through the data using all 13 tools and extracts core principles.

GitHub: https://github.com/PROVE1352/cognitive-sparks

Why I built it

Every AI agent framework (LangGraph, CrewAI, AutoGPT) teaches agents what to do — call tools, manage state, follow workflows.

Nobody teaches them how to think.

I wanted to see: if the 13 thinking tools are truly universal (used by scientists, artists, and engineers identically), can we implement them as AI primitives?

The weird part: it has a nervous system

Most frameworks use a "CEO pattern" — one orchestrator tells tools what to run in what order. That's how corporations work, not how intelligence works.

Sparks has an actual neural circuit (~30 neuron populations, ~80 learned connections). Tools don't run in a fixed order. The execution sequence emerges from neural dynamics:

  • Empty state → "observation hunger" signal drives the observe tool to fire first
  • After observations → pattern recognition neurons activate highest
  • After patterns → abstraction neurons win
  • No code says "observe then patterns then abstract." It just happens.

The connections learn via STDP (spike-timing dependent plasticity) and evolve across sessions. The framework literally gets smarter with every use.

The validation that convinced me

I had 15 months of densely analyzed market data. Over those months, I manually extracted 3 "core laws" governing market behavior. Took months of work.

I fed the raw data to Sparks: "find the fundamental laws."

It found 12 principles. The top 3 matched my manually-extracted laws. Plus 9 additional principles I hadn't formalized.

Standard (7 tools) Deep (13 tools)
Principles 7 12
Avg confidence 80% 91%
Coverage 68% 85%
Cost $6 $9

The 6 "creative" tools (imagine, body-think, empathize, play, shift-dimension, transform) contributed 5 principles that the analytical-only pipeline missed.

What makes it different

LangGraph/CrewAI:  Conductor tells musicians what to play and when
Sparks:            No conductor. Musicians hear each other. Order emerges.
  • 13 cognitive primitives (not just "call this API")
  • Neural circuit drives execution (not if-else rules)
  • Self-optimization: it analyzes its own output quality and fixes its own prompts
  • Full loop: extract → validate → evolve → predict → feedback
  • Multi-model: Claude, GPT-4o, Gemini, Ollama — any LLM backend
  • Cross-session learning: connection weights persist and evolve

Try it

pip install -e .
sparks run --goal "Find the core principles" --data ./your-data/ --depth standard

Works with Claude Code CLI (free with subscription), OpenAI, Google Gemini, or any OpenAI-compatible API (Ollama, Groq).

What's next

  • Google Colab notebook (try without installing)
  • Benchmark against GPT-Researcher, STORM
  • Embedding-based convergence detection

Built solo with Claude Code over a long weekend. Happy to answer any questions about the architecture or results.

u/RadiantTurnover24 — 5 hours ago
[P] I built an AI framework with a real nervous system (17 biological principles) instead of an orchestrator — inspired by a 1999 book about how geniuses think
▲ 2 r/learnmachinelearning+1 crossposts

[P] I built an AI framework with a real nervous system (17 biological principles) instead of an orchestrator — inspired by a 1999 book about how geniuses think

I'm a CS sophomore who read "Sparks of Genius" (Root-Bernstein, 1999) — a book about the 13 thinking tools shared by Einstein, Picasso, da Vinci, and Feynman.

I turned those 13 tools into AI agent primitives, and replaced the standard orchestrator with a nervous system based on real neuroscience:

- Threshold firing (signals accumulate → fire → reset, like real neurons)

- Habituation (repeated patterns auto-dampen)

- Hebbian plasticity ("fire together, wire together" between tools)

- Lateral inhibition (tools compete, most relevant wins)

- Homeostasis (overactive tools auto-inhibited)

- Autonomic modes (sympathetic=explore, parasympathetic=integrate)

- 11 more biological principles

No conductor. Tools sense shared state and self-coordinate — like a starfish (no brain, 5 arms coordinate through local rules).

What it does: Give it a goal + any data → it observes, finds patterns, abstracts to core principles (Picasso Bull method), draws structural analogies, builds a cardboard model, and synthesizes.

Demo: I analyzed the Claude Code source leak (3 blog posts). It extracted 3 architecture laws with analogies to the Maginot Line and Chernobyl reactor design.

**What no other framework has:**

- 17 biological nervous system principles (LangGraph: 0, CrewAI: 0, AutoGPT: 0)

- Picasso Bull abstraction (progressively remove non-essential until essence remains)

- Absent pattern detection (what's MISSING is often the strongest signal)

- Sleep/consolidation between rounds (like real sleep — prune noise, strengthen connections)

- Evolution loop (AutoAgent-style: mutate → benchmark → keep/rollback)

Built entirely with Claude Code. No human wrote a single line.

GitHub: https://github.com/PROVE1352/cognitive-sparks

Happy to answer questions about the neuroscience mapping or the architecture.

u/RadiantTurnover24 — 22 hours ago