Donald D. Hoffman
scientist · 2 mentions across 1 reading
In this course
Donald D. Hoffman is a cognitive scientist best known for his Interface Theory of Perception, which argues that evolution has not selected for veridical perception of objective reality but rather for fitness-enhancing interface representations. His work is central to the course's engagement with how perception, cognition, and reality-modeling relate to questions about artificial systems and simulation—essentially asking whether intelligences (biological or artificial) need to perceive truth or merely navigate adaptive fitness landscapes. By destabilizing the assumption that perception maps to reality, Hoffman's framework opens onto deeper questions about what machine learning systems actually model and whether human-designed AI can ever access a "true" world or only construct useful fictions.
Mentioned in 1 reading
Appears alongside
People mentioned in the same passages — sorted by co-occurrence weight.