[email protected]
John Searle
American philosopher, currently the Slusser Professor of Philosophy at the University of California, Berkeley. Noted for his contributions to the philosophy of language, philosophy of mind and social philosophy
His work ranges broadly over philosophical problems of mind and language.
Recent books include The Mystery of Consciousness (1997), Mind, Language and Society: Philosophy in the Real World (1998), Rationality in Action (2001), Mind (2004), and Liberté et Neurobiologie (2004).
He teaches philosophy of mind, philosophy of language, and philosophy of social science; recent seminars topics include consciousness, free will, and rationality.
Widely noted for his contributions to the philosophy of language, philosophy of mind and social philosophy, he began teaching at Berkeley in 1959.
He received the Jean Nicod Prize in 2000; the National Humanities Medal in 2004; and the Mind & Brain Prize in 2006.
Among his notable concepts is the "Chinese room" argument against "strong" artificial intelligence.
American philosopher John Serle has made countless contributions to contemporary thinking about consciousness, language, artificial intelligence and rationality itself.
In his early work, he focused on the nature of language and what we are conveying when we speak and how the intention behind what we intend to say can the meaning of words from context to context.
He is best known for his “Chinese Room” thought experiment, which challenges the notion of a truly intelligent artificial intelligence.
In it, he imagines a room containing an individual, who speaks only English, working with a set of English instructions to write a series of Chinese characters in order to anonymous communicate with a Chinese speaker outside the room.
If that individual follows the instructions carefully, she can effectively fool the Chinese speaker into thinking he’s talking to someone who understands his language.
Serle argues that, at the very least, the metaphor raises deep complications as to whether or not one can truly describe convincing simulations of intelligence as intelligent.
He remains of firm believer that subjective experiences are real -- even if they don’t always describe things are they really are -- and are worth thinking about in objective terms because of it.
Related Speakers View all
Dan Ariely
Behavioral Economist; Professor at Duke University; ...
|
|
Jon Bergmann
Pioneer of the Flipped Class Movement & Bestselling ...
|
|
Mitch Resnick
Mitchel Resnick is LEGO Papert Professor of Learning...
|
|
Jon Steinberg
Founder & CEO of Cheddar; Former President & COO of ...
|
|
Avi Rubin
Professor of Computer Science & Technical Director o...
|
|
Kevin Allocca
Head of Culture & Trends at YouTube
|
|
Ramsey Musallam
Science Teacher, Adjunct Professor, Robotics Coach, ...
|
|
Edward Tenner
Smithsonian Institution Distinguished Scholar & Auth...
|
|
Thomas Pogge
Philosopher Thomas Pogge wants to ensure medications...
|
|
Shawn Achor
Harvard Professor, Researcher, Positive Psychology E...
|
|
Diane Prince Johnston
CEO & Founder of Winnie & Kat; Fashion Entrepreneur
|
|
David R. Dow
David R. Dow has defended over 100 death row inmates...
|
|
Daniel H. Cohen
Professor of Philosophy / Studies language and the w...
|
|
Charlie Alejandro
Motivational Speaker, Writer, Actress & Radio Talk S...
|
|
Eldar Shafir
Professor Behavioral Science and Public Policy & Pro...
|
|
Robert Cialdini
New York Times Best-Selling Author; The Foundational...
|
|
Bill Gates
Co-Founder of Microsoft; Co-Chair of the Bill & Meli...
|
|
Jeff Brown
Leading Performance & Leadership Authority
|
|
Andrea Raquel
Trained Broadcast Journalist / Marketing Pro & Exper...
|
|
Clay Shirky
Expert on New Technology & Social Media, & How They ...
|