Donald Hoffman

Life

• Donald Hoffman: Born in 1955, San Antonio, Texas; earned BA from UCLA (1978) and PhD from MIT (1983) in Computational Psychology.
• Professor of Cognitive Sciences at UC Irvine since 1983.
• Guggenheim Fellow (1994-1995) and recipient of the Troland Research Award (1990).
• Known for controversial interface theory of perception.

People Who Influenced Their Thought

• Immanuel Kant: Inspired Hoffman's view that reality is not directly perceivable.
• Rudolf Carnap: Influenced his formal approach to perception.
• David Marr: Shaped his computational theories of vision.

Main Ideas and Publications

• Visual Intelligence: Published 1998, argued vision constructs useful fictions.
• The Case Against Reality: Published 2019, proposed reality is an evolutionary interface.
• Interface Theory of Perception: Claims perceptual systems evolved to hide reality.
• Conscious Realism: Argues consciousness is fundamental to reality.

Key People Influenced by Their Thought

• Bernardo Kastrup: Built on Hoffman's idealist framework.
• Deepak Chopra: Popularized similar consciousness-first views.
• Donald Hoffman: His work remains controversial but influential in consciousness studies.

Conclusion

• Donald Hoffman has challenged conventional views of perception and reality, proposing radical theories that place consciousness at the foundation of existence.