Did you know that Google has an in-house philos- opher? That’s one of the many titles held by seri- al entrepreneur and philosophy professor Damon Horowitz. Starting with a B.A. in Philosophy from Columbia University, Horowitz took a few courses in Computer Science, on his mother’s suggestion. Frustrated with the limitations of human thought, he found hope in the promise of Artificial Intel - ligence - the focus of his Master's Degree. He went to build AI companies focused on Natural Language Processing - the ability of computers to understand what people are talking about. But over time, it became clear to him that the intel- ligence systems he was creating weren’t actually as intelligent as he had hoped. If he really wanted to build a better thinker, the solution wasn’t to go to another AI lab, but to study philosophy. With that, Horowitz sought his PhD in Philosophy to find the limits of his technology-oriented point of view. He is now an advocate of the humanities and ethics in the tech industry and teaches cours- es in philosophy, AI, and cognitive science it to students at NYU, UPenn, Stanford, Columbia and prisoners at San Quentin State Prison. DID YOU KNOW THAT GOOGLE HAD AN IN-HOUSE PHILOSOPHER?
SUCCESS look like? what does
with philosophy
PHOTO: Berlin, Germany, March 19, 2014. Hy! Summit - Im- age by Dan Taylor. www.heisenbergmedia.com
PHOTO: Washington College President Sheila Bair at the Senior Luncheon
PHOTO: Aung San Suu Kyi by Martin Schultz at the European Parla - ment in Strassbourg on Oct. 22, 2013.
PETER THIEL Co-Founder of PayPal and co-de- veloper of Facebook, Yelp, Spotify, Yammer, LinkedIn.
AUNG SAN SUU KYI
SHEILA BAIR
DIC Chair (Federal Deposit Insur- ance Corp.)
Nobel Peace Prize Winner
Graduated from the University of Kansas with a degree in Philosophy and later a J.D. in Law.
Graduated from Oxford Universty with a BA in Pilosophy.
Graduated from Stanford with a B.A. in Philosophy and J.D. in Law.
Damon Horowitz in San Francisco in 2016
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