Why are smart device ‘smart’? Perhaps they’re part of an extended mind!
Harkening back to my 1980s childhood, I remember, almost nostalgically, the analogue experience of calling my friends on the phone. How different it felt compared to the digital experience today. As a kid, I’d walk over to the landline, pick up the corded phone, hear a dial tone, turn and release the rotary dial, listen for a ring (or a busy signal), and—finally—get a connection. Years later, calling friends has never been quicker and easier, thanks to the speed of cellphones.
Currently, nearly everyone carries a cellphone, according to Pew Research. However, what’s curious is that cellphones are for much more than calling. Nowadays, people text more than they call. Moreover, they use cellphones to access the Internet, schedule appointments, connect on social networks, look up the news, share or comment on stories, etc.
In truth, cellphones aren’t mere calling devices. They’re all-purpose minicomputers, helping us access, remember, and analyze or manipulate information. Hence, we refer to them as smartphones or smart devices.
Nevertheless, these apps do more than help us remember. They also help us process information. We pull up calculators to calculate. We fill in spreadsheets and forms to tabulate and transfer data. If we were to think of the brain as a business executive, we’d see how it ‘outsources’ many mental operations using technology. Information processing moves from inside the cranium to ‘offshore’ tech. Memory goes from internal neurons to external media.
Media as extensions of the mind
Back in the 1960s, media theorist Marshall McLuhan—probably best known for saying “the medium is the message”—talked about technologies and media as “extensions” of our minds (McLuhan, 2003). In particular, he thought of technologies and media as extensions of our sense perceptions and mental operations.
For instance, screens are an extension of vision; radios are an extension of hearing. If he were still alive, McLuhan would say smart devices are an extension of memory and information-processing brainpower.
Extended mind theory
Though his ideas remain controversial, McLuhan was onto something. In fact, researchers in cognitive science and philosophy of mind have formulated a similar idea, known as extended mind theory. According to this theory, technology quite literally extends the mind into the world.
Granted, the idea that your mind extends beyond your head may seem a bit hard to swallow, especially because we (in the West) tend to picture the mind as a ‘thing’ inside the head. However, the mind is not actually a thing. Rather, it’s a process, which is why cognitive psychologists refer to its belief-forming activities as information processing (not information things).
Externalism and the extended mind
Extended mind theory owes its popularity to a famous article by philosophers Andy Clark and and David Chalmers. Here’s their main idea, which is sometimes called “externalism.” Briefly stated, the mind’s existence, and all the beliefs it forms, will depend not only on the internal brain but also on the external world, including technology. As Clark and Chalmers point out, when we remember or process information, we can do so with our own memory or with a technological device.
Often, we rely more on the latter than the former. To illustrate, when we recall a street address or figure out directions, we may do so using our own memory. Likewise, we may do it using technologies, such as maps, notebooks, or GPS apps. “What really counts” when we form a belief about the street address or directions, argue Clark and Chalmers, “is that the information is easily available when the subject needs it.” Thus, they conclude,
The moral is that when it comes to belief, there is nothing sacred about skull and skin. What makes some information count as belief is the role it plays, and there is no reason why the relevant role can be played only from inside the body.
In sum, Clark and Chalmers contend that mind equals brain and body plus technologies that extend it into the world. All together, they enact a “coupled system” that we call mind (Clark and Chalmers, 1998).
Do technologies really form an extend mind?
Now, there’s an crucial clarification we should make about extended mind theory. Philosopher Mark Rowlands explains it cogently in his book The New Science of Mind: From Extended Mind to Embodied Phenomenology.
When we say technology extends the mind into the world, we don’t just mean the outside world causally supplies context or content. (“The idea that things going on in the environment causally drive cognitive processes is an utterly mundane claim that anyone should accept,” writes Rowlands; 2010, p 21.) We also mean technologies in the outside world actually constitute (at least part of) your mental operations.
Is it really true that technologies extend our minds? Other than the brain and body, do smart devices, computers, and the Internet make up parts of our cognitive processes? It’s a provocative argument, and if it piques your interest, check out Chalmer’s TED Talk, as well as the references listed below.
References
Clark, Andy and and Chalmers, David. (1998). The Extended Mind. Analysis, 58, 10-23.
McLuhan, Marshall. (2003). Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man: Critical Edition. (W. Terrence Gordon, Ed.). Berkeley: Gingko Press. (Original work published 1964.)
Rowlands, Mark. (2010). The New Science of Mind: From Extended Mind to Embodied Phenomenology. Cambridge: MIT Press.
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