Who is Phillip Lentz from Galatea 2.2 and what is their importance?

Phillip Lentz is a cognitive neuroscientist working at the Center for the Study of Advanced Sciences. He is currently working in the field of connectionism. Connectionism is the idea that consciousness arises out of the ability to recursively change, elaborate and modify connections to varying weights. He is married to a woman named Audrey and has a daughter that rarely speaks to him.