He was so soft-spoken and had a huge influence on my own deconversion, I will miss him dearly.
[quote]World renowned philosopher Daniel Dennett, who championed controversial takes on consciousness and free will among other mind-bending subjects, died today at the age of 82. "He was a towering figure in philosophy and in particular in the philosophy of AI," roboticist Rodney Brooks (MIT, emeritus) wrote on X, bemoaning that he'd never replied to Dennett's last email from 30 days ago.
[quote]A 2017 New Yorker profile described Dennett as "a cross between Darwin and Santa Claus," with "a fluffy white beard and a round belly." That jolly appearance was accompanied by an intellectual ferocity – generously embellished with his sparkling wit – as he battled such luminaries as Stephen J. Gould, John Searle, Noam Chomsky, David Chalmers, Roger Penrose, and Richard Lewontin, among others, over consciousness and evolution, free will, AI, religion, and many other topics.