Daniel Dennett is our best current philosopher. He is the next Bertrand Russell. Unlike traditional philosophers, Dan is a student of neuroscience, linguistics, artificial intelligence, computer science, and psychology. He's redefining and reforming the role of the philosopher.

Anyone could learn Lisp in one day, except that if they already knew Fortran, it would take three days.

If we understood something just one way, we would not understand it at all.

By the way, it was his simulations that helped out in Jurassic Park - without them, there would have been only a few dinosaurs. Based on his techniques, Industrial Light and Magic could make whole herds of dinosaurs race across the screen.

Imagine what it would be like if TV actually were good. It would be the end of everything we know.

Societies need rules that make no sense for individuals. For example, it makes no difference whether a single car drives on the left or on the right. But it makes all the difference when there are many cars!

There are three basic approaches to AI: Case-based, rule-based, and connectionist reasoning.