Kevin Simler
Kevin Simler is a software engineer, writer, and independent thinker. He worked at Palantir and other Silicon Valley companies before turning to writing. He co-authored The Elephant in the Brain (2018) with Robin Hanson after approaching Hanson informally in 2013 with the idea of working together as student and advisor — skipping academic formalities to simply write the book they wanted to write. He also writes at melting-asphalt.com, where he explores philosophy of mind, evolutionary biology, and social psychology.
His contribution to the book was primarily the legibility and scope: his software engineering background and outsider perspective helped translate Hanson's more technical economic ideas into accessible prose, while his own curiosity about human nature pushed the book toward a broader range of domains (art, laughter, body language) beyond Hanson's original focus on institutional economics.