In sixth grade, Dennett dreamed of building the perfect robot.673 Through grad school, he was lured by an image of elegance: perfectly-regulated robotic movement. This aesthetic quest has dominated his professional life. Intriguingly, though, his private life differs. A series of (largely unsuccessful) relationships with women; all his partners being spontaneous, passionate (and highly unstable) types. The opposite of robots. Dennett’s quest, driven by an image of control, was successful in the professional sphere. But the successful quest left a void: the absence of spontaneity, which he
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