Katarína Marcinčinová (née Sklutová) is an Ethics Specialist at the Kempelenov Institute of Intelligent Technologies (KInIT), where she is a member of the Ethics and Human Values in Technology research group. She holds a PhD in systematic philosophy from Comenius University in Bratislava (Faculty of Arts, Department of Philosophy and History of Philosophy), with research interests spanning the philosophy of consciousness and the philosophy and ethics of artificial intelligence. Her published work includes studies on illusionism and phenomenal consciousness, as well as the ethical implications of AI — including LLM misuse and social media algorithm auditing. Her full publication record is available on ResearchGate.
I first contacted Keith when I was doing my PhD in systematic philosophy at the Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia. I had written an email to ask whether he would be interested in giving an interview on the relationship between illusionism and naturalistic views on consciousness.
The first conversations with Keith convinced me to place illusionism at the centre of my doctoral thesis and from these exchanges, we went on to publish an interview together.
The interview on illusionism inspired me to have a short research stay in Heraklion, Crete in 2023. My first idea was to present Keith with some thoughts about my doctoral thesis, in which I wanted to argue that illusionism is not an eliminative position, but a naturalist one, which explains consciousness as a natural phenomenon rather than an unsolvable mystery.
Keith suggested we meet at the café next to Heraklion Archeological Museum. I was not yet confident enough to present my views to someone so established in the field, but as it turned out, my worries were unfounded. I was pleasantly struck by how genuinely Keith engaged with my philosophical views. It felt less like a student meeting a teacher and more like a philosophical dialogue between two people.
After our meeting, Keith kindly invited me and my now-husband that was travelling with me to dinner with Maria. Over the course of the evening, Keith and Maria gave me a piece of advice I have carried with me ever since – that I can practice philosophy anywhere if I have a genuine passion and love for it.
After dinner, Keith suggested we arrange an online meeting with Daniel Dennett — a philosopher we both greatly admired, and one whose ideas long served as an inspiration for my philosophical journey. I was quite stunned by that for a moment, yet before long we found ourselves in Keith’s study singing ‘Happy Birthday’ to Daniel Dennett! During the same conversation, three of us also discussed the risks posed by current AI systems (which later inspired me to broaden my professional focus on AI ethics).
I successfully completed my PhD in 2024, with a doctoral thesis on illusionism (awarded the Comenius University Rector’s Award 2024) which was inspired in no small part by conversations with Keith (as also noted in the dissertation itself). I currently work as an AI ethics researcher and specialist at the Kempelen Institute of Intelligent Technologies, with a focus on both the philosophy of mind and the philosophy of artificial intelligence.
I often found myself thinking about my research stay in Heraklion, because the discussions with Keith did far more than only help me with ‘what-it-is-like’ to be a professional researcher (and proud Thesean!). They also showed me that the wisest people are the kindest — those who place value on humility and understanding in sharing their knowledge, rather than on rank or standing.
