Everything is Natural: The Extended Mind Thesis

I would recommend people check out the extended mind thesis.  David Chalmers and Andy Clark wrote this magnificent essay about how the iPhone is essentially an extension of the human mind, and they’re not just saying it’s a metaphor.  They’re saying this is an actual extension of who and what we are. 

In a way, it took less energy to create this i-mind than it would have to grow an extra frontal lobe within our tissue.  And, essentially, one in a billion times more powerful communications technology and computers will be at the size of our blood cells.  We’ll put them in our brains.  The blurring of the line of the division will continue.  

I’m saying to people there already is no division between the natural and the unnatural.  It’s a fake distinction.  It’s like William Gibson, when he says, “In the future, we’ll look back on the past and laugh at the so-called distinction between the real and virtual worlds,” because they’re all real.  Everything is real.  Movies are real.  When a movie makes you cry, that’s real.  And I think the same thing applies to this idea of technology.  It’s totally natural.  There is no natural versus unnatural.  It’s all natural.  

60 Second Reads is recorded in Big Think’s studio.

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