Dr. Ernest Davis is a professor of computer science at the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences at New York University. He is an expert on artificial intelligence - he studies the problem of representing commonsense knowledge (basic knowledge about the real world that is common to all humans) and expressing it in a form that is systematic enough to be used by a computer program. Dr. Davis' research includes topics such as the problem of reasoning about containers and the ontology of matter, both of which are discussed in this episode. We also go into detail about potential applications and whether or not artifical intelligence poses a threat. Visit his website for more information here.