ESP Biography
PATRICK SHERLOCK, Technical Research Associate at MIT BCS
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Major: Not available. College/Employer: MIT Year of Graduation: Not available. |
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Brief Biographical Sketch:
I am very interested in understanding the human animal: how we're different from other species, how we're similar; where we come from, where we're going; what are we capable of, what aren't we. To (try to) answer some of these questions, it is important to pull from many different fields including neuroscience, psychology, philosophy, anthropology, and biology to name a few. At MIT, I work as a technical research associate in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences studying how brains and minds are capable of language use. Before that, I worked at Vanderbilt University studying how people produce and comprehend language. I obtained my BS in neuroscience with a minor in linguistics from the University of Southern California. Past Classes(Clicking a class title will bring you to the course's section of the corresponding course catalog)S16226: What it Means to be Human in Splash Fall 2025 (Nov. 22 - 23, 2025)
Human beings have long asked about who we are and how we fit into this complex world we find ourselves in. Scientists and philosophers have spent centuries studying human anatomy and behavior to try to decipher what exactly makes a human being human. Maybe it's our large brains? Maybe it's how we interact with others? Maybe it's how we think?
To begin trying to answer these sorts of questions, we must first realize that there might not be any single right answer, and instead perhaps we must approach these sorts of problems from many different perspectives. Only then may we begin to appreciate how beautifully complicated the human animal truly is.
In this 2 hour crash-course, we will discuss methods and theories spanning evolutionary biology, neuroscience, philosophy, anthropology, sociology, and psychology in order to better understand who we are, where we come from, and where we are going.
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