The semantic engineer provides a biography of Daniel Dennett, “Darwinian fundamentalist” and philospher — and so much more:
Dahlbom, who went on to edit a book of essays on Dennett’s philosophy, was bowled over by his personality and accomplishments. ‘I was 25 when I met him. He overwhelmed me — he was very good at so many things. When I first met him, we were driving in a car: the conversation moved from poetry to sailing and opera; he knew about all of them. He was a sculptor, an expert downhill skier; he had taught canoeing at summer camp; he was a tennis champion and had toyed with the idea of becoming a jazz musician. He’s become over the years very knowledgeable in all the disciplines surrounding what he’s doing.’
Once they had moved back to the east coast, the Dennetts brought a farm in Maine, which they take very seriously; their friend Douglas Hofstadter says Dennett is the handyman there: “He builds rooms, he repairs tractors, he does the farming, he makes cider, picks the apples, puts them in trucks, and presses and bottles them, with Susan. He’s involved in square dancing. When he’s up there, he becomes a local, speaks the Maine dialect with the Maine idiom. He’s also studied foreign languages, mostly French and Italian. He knows a huge amount of music.”
I suppose I should finally pick up his Darwin’s Dangerous Idea…