Donald Hoffman

Donald Hoffman is a professor of cognitive science at UC Irvine whose Interface Theory of Perception argues that our perceptual experiences do not represent objective reality but rather an evolutionarily useful interface — like a desktop GUI — that conceals the true nature of the world. He extends this to a radical claim that spacetime itself is not fundamental, and that consciousness may be.

Proposed the Interface Theory of Perception: evolution selects for fitness-enhancing perception, not for accurate perception of objective reality; thus our perceptual world is a constructed interface, not a window onto the real. Extended this into a panpsychic metaphysics of conscious agents.