
The Extended Mind (1998) - ColinWright
http://consc.net/papers/extended.html
======
valgor
While interesting, the ethical implications are what got me interested in the
extended mind theory. If I cut out a piece of someone's brain, and that turned
them into a lesser functioning human being, then what I did would be
considered unethical by most people's ethical frameworks. But what if I took
away your paper and pencil, or computer, or abacus? Is that unethical? This
has tangible effects on schools that lack funding for tools, or those
imprisoned without access to books and writing material.

~~~
disqard
An interesting line of thought indeed -- let's continue it...

A large chunk of contemporary society considers hand writing an obsolete "mind
extension" unworthy of "installation".

No centralized entity is forcing people to forgo this upgrade, but it's kinda
unconventional to install it these days, so it gets progressively rarer.

It could be argued that this is analogous to an entire society of users
choosing to _not_ install the terminal/command line app on their OS. Or
(closer to reality), a wide swath of computer users missing out on the power
of the command line.

------
keiferski
This is a topic which will become more-and-more relevant as human-computer
interfaces get better. The SEP article is also a good read:

[https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/embodied-
cognition/](https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/embodied-cognition/)

------
dr_dshiv
Love the references to David Kirsh's work on Tetris. I.e., to see if Tetris
shapes fit, one can either mentally rotate or use the button to rotate: both
are cognitive processes, but one is more externalized.

------
arthur5005
Reading philosophy late at night helps me sleep. Fitting.

