Extended Cognition and the Extended Mind Theory
Status of Cognition
We shouldn't just guess what counts as thinking; instead, we should look at what something does and how it works.
It's natural to link the brain with thinking because of its nerve activity. But if we define 'thinking' too strictly, we might ignore helpful tools or ways of thinking that happen outside the brain.
Being open-minded lets us include non-living parts or thoughts spread across different things when we try to understand thinking.
Examples are discussed to explain how thinking might happen outside the head.
Concept of Extended Cognition
The quick change from early humans to modern humans mostly happened because of changes in culture, not big biological changes, over the last 10,000 years.
This means that how we deal with and organize our surroundings has greatly changed how well we think.
Extended thinking helps us see how humans have improved their thought processes by using tools, outside ideas, and social groups.
Modern humans are very different from early humans mainly in how they relate to their surroundings, which has become a key part of how they think.
Four E's of Cognition
The "Four E's" are a full way to understand thinking, especially when we talk about the idea of the extended mind:
Embodied: Thinking isn't just an idea in the brain; it naturally includes the body and what it can sense and do. How we physically deal with the world shapes and makes up our thoughts. Example: If someone were to "cut off their fingers" (just an idea), it would greatly hurt a musician's ability to play. This shows how body parts are key to doing difficult thinking tasks.
Embedded: How we think is deeply connected to and shaped by where we are. The situation and surroundings give us hints, limits, and tools that affect how we think and act. Example: Early humans' thinking needs and ways to solve problems were greatly affected and limited by their "cave home." This made them need specific thinking skills to survive.
Extended: Thinking can, sometimes, go beyond the brain and body into the outside world. It includes tools, tech, and outside ideas as working parts of our thinking system. This goes against the old idea that thinking only happens inside the brain.
Enacted: Thinking is about actively taking part and doing things in our surroundings. It's not just passively seeing things, but actively shaping what we experience through what we do. Our actions in our surroundings help make up our thinking, creating meaning and understanding.
Argument by Clark and Chalmers
Thinkers Andy Clark and David Chalmers suggest a bold idea: some parts of the outside world could actually work as part of your mind, not just as outside help.
They list clear rules for something to be part of your mind. They say that inside and outside thinking parts can work the same way:
Always There: The outside thing must be with you always or easy to get when you need it, just like your own memory is always with you.
Easy to Get To: The info in the outside thing must be easy to reach and understand, without big problems or hard explanations. It should be as easy as getting to your own thoughts.
Trusted Automatically: You should naturally believe the info you get from the outside thing is true, just like we usually trust our own memories without needing to check them every time.
If all three rules are met, Clark and Chalmers say that something outside your head can be seen as a working part of your mind. This makes the difference between inside and outside thinking less clear.
Hypothetical Scenarios
The stories of two people, Inga and Otto, are famous thought experiments that show and test the idea of extended thinking:
Inga: Is a person with normal brain function. She reads a magazine, sees an ad for an art show, and when she decides to go, she remembers from her own memory that the museum is on 53rd Street. Her thinking uses only her inner brain power.
Otto: Is a man starting to get Alzheimer's. To make up for his bad memory, Otto carefully uses a notebook as outside help for his memory. When he decides to go to the same art show, he looks in his notebook, which correctly tells him the museum is on 53rd Street. The big question is if Otto's notebook works like an extension of his mind, similar to Inga's natural memory.
Case Studies
Otto's notebook helps him keep track of important facts, working as a trustworthy and linked part of his daily thinking.
His notebook helps him recall things because it always meets the three rules of extended mind theory: it's always with him (or easy to get to), its info is easy to find, and he automatically trusts what it says. It doesn't just give facts; it actively makes up part of his thinking process, helping him deal with the world well even with his illness.
What's really important is that Otto uses it as part of his constant thinking. This is much different from just forgetting something and looking it up one time. For Otto, the notebook is his memory for some facts.
The story of artist Lonnie Sue Johnson also shows how much she needs her outside notes for her ongoing thinking skills, especially in how she creates things.
For her, losing her notes feels like physically harming her thinking ability or losing a part of her own mind. It would greatly stop her from doing her work and thinking creatively.
Philosophical Implications of Extended Mind Theory
This idea brings up deep talks about how much we rely on outside help for thinking, asking where the real limits of 'the mind' are.
There are possible moral questions because of how important personal notes, digital memories, or other outside thinking helpers are. If these are truly parts of the mind, then hurting them could be seen as hurting a person's thinking completeness or who they are.
The ideas also make us think about how tech connects to who we feel we are, what it means to be a person, and what thinking really is. It makes us see the mind as possibly more spread out and changeable than we used to think.
Introduction of AI and Cognition
The coming of AI (like Large Language Models - LLMs) adds new, complex levels to how we understand thinking, especially extended thinking.
AI can give info fast and work with huge amounts of data, acting as a strong outside thinking tool. But it's not always dependable or correct, which makes the 'trusted automatically' rule harder to meet.
Being able to use tech well and fit it smoothly into how one works greatly affects how much that tech becomes a working part of one's thinking, meeting the rules for extended mind.
Future Directions of Cognition and Identity
More and more, tech, especially AI, is becoming part of our daily lives. This brings up deep questions about who we are, what it means to be a person, and how much we control our own thinking.
It makes us ask: 'Did you want your identity to have this tech in it?' This points to worries about control and how outside systems might become part of how we see ourselves and how we think, even if we didn't choose it.
Conclusion of Extended Mind Theory
This talk fits well with functionalism, a thinking theory that says mental states are defined by what they cause and do, not by what they are made of or where they are. So, we know a thinking process by what it does, not always where it is or what it's made from.
Extended mind theory, then, moves attention from just brain processes to what we do, what those actions achieve, and the spread-out systems that let us think.
Lastly, we should bring together all these ideas again. This helps us remember the important things we've learned about thinking, who we are, and how much we're connected to modern tech.