John Searle

Professor John Searle teaches philosophy at the University of California, Berkeley and has given speeches about the importance of examining consciousness. Searle began teaching at Berkeley back in 1959. Searle studied at Oxford University in his youth.

Searle believes that consciousness is a biological phenomenon and therefore can't be recreated in artificial intelligence. He also believes, however, that this is a subject worthy of further examination. Searle believes that scientists will likely not be able to create a conscious robot because they aren't biological beings.

In 2000, John Searle won the Jean Nicod Prize and then in 2004 he won the National Humanities Medal. He also won the Mind & Brain Prize in 2006. He is best known for his experiment 'The Chinese Room.'