Damon Horowitz

Damon Horowitz is a philosophy professor and serial entrepreneur. He is best known for his TED talks on teaching philosophy in prison^[1] and the ethics of the technology industry,^[2] and for his advocacy for the humanities in the technology industry.^[3]

Damon Horowitz in San Francisco in 2016

Horowitz earned a BA from Columbia University, a MS in Artificial Intelligence from the MIT Media Lab, and a PhD in Philosophy at Stanford University.^[4] He began his career in technology, later returning to Stanford to earn a PhD in philosophy.^[5]

He was a co-founder of the search engine Aardvark, Perspecta, and Novation Biosciences.^[6] He was also In-House Philosopher/Director of Engineering at Google.^[7]

Horowitz teaches courses in philosophy, AI, and cognitive science at NYU, Stanford,^[8] Columbia,^[9] U Penn, and San Quentin State Prison.^[10]

Horowitz has served on the Board of Directors of several arts and humanities non-profits, and in 2013 he was elected to the Board of CalHumanities.^[11]

In 2014, Horowitz founded the non-profit Shakespeare theater company "The Oracular Theatre", and directed their production of Julius Caesar.^[12]