About Me
I am a philosopher who works mainly on questions about human minds, cognitive science, and artificial intelligence. I received a PhD in Philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania, where I also completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Computational Neuroscience. Prior to that, I received my JD from Yale Law School.
Research
I work on questions about how to understand and study cognitive abilities, especially those of human beings, and on the ongoing efforts to emulate these abilities in artificially intelligent systems. How do our capacities for abstract thought relate to the way we perceive and move through the world? What gives rise to important differences in the ways different people think, and what are the social and ethical implications of those differences? What can we learn from machine models that match or exceed human performance in complex domains, and what are the limits of those models? I approach these questions from multiple disciplinary perspectives, and I often view them through their presentation in complex and expressive movement, especially dance. I am also interested in legal and ethical questions concerning AI.
Selected Publications
Computational kinematics of dance: distinguishing Hip Hop genres (with Tony Liu, Jordan Matelsky, Felipe Parodi, Brett Mensh, John Krakauer and Konrad Kording),
-- 2024 Frontiers in Human Robotics and AI
Commentary on Favela and Machery, "Investigating the concept of representation in neural and psychological sciences
-- 2023 The Brains Blog
Three Aspects of Representation in Neuroscience (with Ben Lansdell and Konrad Kording),
-- 2022 Trends in Cognitive Sciences
Creativity in AI Dance Art
-- 2022 International Conference on Computational Creativity
Natural information, factivity and nomicity
-- 2021 Biology and Philosophy
Referee Report of (hypothetical) Philosophy-101 Textbook, by Professor Unspecified
-- 2021 Teaching Philosophy
Spanish Translation by Fredy H.P. Galindo
-- 2023 Cuestiones Filosophia
Teaching
I strive to empower my students to let their curiosity and passion drive their education. My courses challenge students to consider a topic from multiple disciplinary and cultural perspectives, and I incorporate hands-on interaction with emerging technologies, helping to build broadly applicable skills and knowledge.
Courses Taught
Central Philosophical Issues: Mind and Machine
Philosophy of Cognitive Science
Philosophy and Dance
Philosophy of Emotion
Philosophy and Visual Perception
Introduction to Ethics
Dance
Dance is a major part of my life and identity. My primary background is in hip-hop choreography, popping, and house, and I like to explore many movement styles.
Selected Dance Works
2022 Freestyle, shot/edited by Sho Matsuzaki | ♪♪ Soul of a Man -- Moon, ft Sticky Dub
2020 Class choreography with Kirah Koo | ♪♪ Krs. // Toast -- Dumebi edit
2019 Class choreography with Earle G and Bridget Sedden @ IAmPhresh | ♪♪ kay franklin - Getaheadhouse Edit -- Esta.
2018 Ba-Dum | Poetry -- me, Audio -- Madam Data, Video -- Mike Oberlies & Joe Clement
2018 Class choreography -- Chris Martin | ♪♪ I Need Never Get Old -- Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats
2015 Music video choreography | ♪♪ Lean On Rangeela (Major Lazer // Imran Khan) -- Jai Matt ft. Mugdha Hasabnis, Dr. Srimix, proDiJy
2011 choreography, video edit by Tom Maher | ♪♪ Go Out and Love Someopne -- Pogo
CV
You can view and download my full CV by clickinghere
About Now
I just finished my first year as faculty!
Currently some things I'm working on are an essay about "What is AGI?" for a Routledge coursebook in Philosophy of Mind, the next steps of the "Computational Kinematics" project, refining a late-stage collaborative paper on an ecological view of complex agents, another late-stage collaboration looking across disciplines at how conceptions of representation relate conceptions of their usefulness, building a couple of new courses for 2024-5, and enjoying my first summer in southern Maine.