Leadership
William Hurlbut, MD
Adjunct Professor and Senior Research Scholar
William B. Hurlbut is a physician and Consulting Professor in the Department of Neurobiology at Stanford University Medical Center. His primary areas of interest involve the ethical issues associated with advancing biomedical technology, the biological basis of moral awareness, and studies in the integration of theology and philosophy of biology. He is currently a Visiting Scholar at the Stanford Center on Adolescence and serves as a Trustee for the Templeton World Charities Foundation.
Terrence Deacon, PhD
Professor, Anthropology
Professor Deacon is a founding member of the Boundaries of Humanity Project at Stanford. His research at UC Berkeley has combined human evolutionary biology and neuroscience, with the aim of investigating the evolution of human cognition. His work extends from laboratory-based cellular-molecular neurobiology to the study of semiotic processes underlying animal and human communication, especially language. Many of these interests are explored in his notable 1997 book, The Symbolic Species: The Coevolution of Language and the Brain.
Ronjon Nag, PhD
Adjunct Professor, Genetics
Dr. Nag is an inventor, teacher and entrepreneur. He is an Adjunct Professor in Genetics at the Stanford School of Medicine, becoming a Stanford Distinguished Careers Institute Fellow in 2016. He teaches AI, Genes, Ethics, Longevity Science and Venture Capital. He is a founder and advisor/board member of multiple start-ups and President of the R42 Group, a venture capital firm which invests in, and creates, AI and Longevity companies. As a pioneer of smartphones and app stores, his companies have been sold to Apple, BlackBerry, and Motorola. More recently he has worked on the intersection of AI and Biology.
John Perry
Emeritus, Professor Philosophy
Dr. Perry is the Henry Waldgrave Stuart Professor of Philosophy Emeritus at Stanford University, and co-director of the Center for the Explanation of Consciousness at the Center for the Study of Language and Information. His research interests include philosophy of language, philosophy of mind and pragmatics. He has authored several books, including most recently, Reference and Reflexivity.
