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Dan Dennett
Dan Dennett was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1942. He is the son of a historian by the same name.
His special focus is the creation of the human mind. And in recent years, he has been participating in the studies of Artificial Intelligence, neuroscience, and cognitive psychology. He is a professor at the Center for Cognitive Studies at Tufts University. -
Education
Dennett received his B.A. in Philosophy at Harvard in 1963, and two years later received his doctorate in philosophy at Oxford University. During this time, Dennett became interested in the nature of consciousness. -
Philosopher of the mind
Dennet published his first book "Content and Consciousness" in 1969, which came from the idea of his doctoral thesis on the topic of consciousness. This book shows where his ideas were formulated and how he sought to develop a theory of the human mind and consciousness. -
Theories of Consciousness
Dennett authored books that detailed his theory of consciousness, most notably, "Consciousness Explained" (1991) where he described consciousness as the product of multiple, layered computer programs running on the hardware of the brain. And "Darwin’s Dangerous Idea" (1995) examines how the evolution of the brain and human consciousness is affected by the mindless process of natural selection. -
Key to Culture is Religion
As an atheist, Dennett argues in his book, "Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon" that religion is in need of scientific analysis so that its nature and future may be better understood.
In this TED talk, he argues that facts about all religions should be taught to children, explains that religion discourages reasoning, and that they should take revolutionary biology seriously.
https://www.ted.com/talks/dan_dennett_s_response_to_rick_warren#t-1469172 -
Should We Give AI Consciousness?
His latest book "From Bacteria to Bach and Back", explains the evolution of the human mind, building on the ideas from computer science and biology.
On Artificial Intelligence, Dennett says "the way to make AI more intelligent is to make them like humans, is a dubious assumption." He thinks that making AI humanlike is meaningless, and since AI has no consciousness, we can treat them as tools.