Extended Mind (Part Two)

More recommended readings about extended mind theory. These readings situate extended mind in a cultural evolution that extends back beyond the printing press to the alphabet and spoken language as affordances for thought.

Michael Nielsen, “Thought as a Technology”,  (2016)

"There  are many worthwhile goals in technology, with very specific ends in  mind. Things like artificial intelligence and life extension are solid,  concrete goals. By contrast, new elements of cognition are harder to  imagine, and seem vague by comparison. By definition, they're ways of  thinking which haven't yet been invented. There's no omniscient  problem-solving box or life-extension pill to imagine. We cannot say a priori what  new elements of cognition will look like, or what they will bring. But  what we can do is ask good questions, and explore boldly."

Denise Schmandt-Besserat

Wikipedia's page about Denise Schmandt-Besserat has this intriguing passage: "Schmandt-Besserat's  present interest is the cognitive aspects of the token system that  functioned as an extension of the human brain to collect, manipulate,  store and retrieve data." The reason this is interesting is because she  discovered the origins of writing. Her publications are important to the serious student of the origins of augmentation. Here is a good synopsis of Schmandt-Besserat's book.

Robert K. Logan, The Alphabet Effect 

The Wikipedia article can  give you the gist of Logan's argument (which he formulated in  collaboration with Marshall McLuhan), but I suggest you read the book  and branch out from its bibliography. The Wikipedia article lists some  of the objections to Logan, so regard his argument as provisional. But  the key point, that learning alphabetic reading fosters a certain way of  thinking about the world, is essential for getting the long view about  augmentation. Andy Clark also uses a similar argument. See also Logan's  more recent book The Extended Mind: The Emergence of Language, the Human Mind, and Culture.  Logan and Clark both cite the history of alphabets and mathematical  notation as evidence that humans have been extending our minds outside  our brains through the augmentation of cognitive methods and physical  tools for a long time, and that the applications of computers to this  process is necessarily both speeding it up and raising it to a new level  by consciously evolving (what Engelbart came to name "bootstrapping" --  using mind-tools to build more powerful mind-tools).