Foreword to Andy Clark's Supersizing the Mind
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Andy Clark, ‘Whatever Next?’
BBS Commentary on: Andy Clark, ‘Whatever Next?’ Word Counts Abstract: 61 Main text: 994 References: 69 Entire text: 1,180 Commentary Title Perception vs Action: The Computations May Be The Same But The Direction Of Fit Differs Author Information Nicholas Shea Faculty of Philosophy University of Oxford 10 Merton Street Oxford OX1 4JJ UK tel. 01865 286896 [email protected] www.philosophy.ox.ac.uk/members/nicholas_shea Abstract Although predictive coding may offer a computational principle that unifies perception and action, states with different directions of fit are involved (with indicative and imperative contents, respectively). Predictive states are adjusted to fit the world in the course of perception, but in the case of action the corresponding states act as a fixed target towards which the agent adjusts the world. Main Text One of the central insights motivating Clark’s interest in the potential for predictive coding to provide a unifying computational principle is the fact that it can be the basis of effective algorithms in both the perceptual and motor domains (Eliasmith 2007, 380). That is surprising because perceptual inference in natural settings is based on a rich series of sensory inputs at all times, whereas a natural motor control task only specifies a final outcome. Many variations in the trajectory are irrelevant to achieving the final goal (Todorov and Jordan 2002), a redundancy that is absent from the perceptual inference problem. Despite this disanalogy, the two tasks are instances of the same general mathematical problem (Todorov 2006). Clark emphasises the “deep unity” between the two problems, which is justified but might serve to obscure an important difference. -
The Extended Mind Thesis and Mechanistic Explanations
The Extended Mind Thesis and Mechanistic Explanations Peter Fazekas Institute of Philosophy, Research Centre for the Humanities Hungarian Academy of Sciences email: [email protected] Abstract The Extended Mind Thesis (EMT) is traditionally formulated against the bedrock of functionalism, and ongoing debates are typically bogged down with questions concerning the exact relationship between EMT and different versions of functionalism. In this paper, I offer a novel ally for EMT: the new mechanistic approach to explanation. I argue that the mechanistic framework provides useful resources not just to disambiguate EMT, and to show which objections fail to pose a serious challenge, but also to answer some of the deeper problems that stem from the functionalist roots of EMT. ! 1. Introduction The Extended Mind Thesis (EMT), first proposed by Clark and Chalmers (1998), claims that the vehicles of our cognitive processes and mental states can and sometimes do extend beyond the boundaries of our brain and even body (cf. Clark, 2008, p. 76). If a physical object plays a part in the machinery realising a cognitive process, then that physical object is part of the cognitive process, no matter whether it is inside or outside the head. This is the so-called parity principle (Clark & Chalmers, 1998, p. 8), the heart and soul of EMT. The most well-known illustration is the case of Otto and Inga. When Inga hears about a new exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) she retrieves from her biological memory that it is on 53rd Street and goes to the museum. Her counterpart, Otto, who suffers from a mild form of Alzheimer’s disease, uses a notebook to jot down and retrieve information. -
Bootstrap Hell: Perceptual Racial Biases in a Predictive Processing Framework
Bootstrap Hell: Perceptual Racial Biases in a Predictive Processing Framework Zachariah A. Neemeh ([email protected]) Department of Philosophy, University of Memphis Memphis, TN 38152 USA Abstract This enables us to extract patterns from ambiguous signals Predictive processing is transforming our understanding of the and establish hypotheses about how the world works. brain in the 21st century. Whereas in the 20th century we The training signals that we get from the world are, understood the brain as a passive organ taking in information however, biased in all the same unsightly ways that our from the world, today we are beginning to reconceptualize it societies are biased: by race, gender, socioeconomic status, as an organ that actively creates and tests hypotheses about its nationality, and sexual orientation. The problem is more world. The promised revolution of predictive processing than a mere sampling bias. Our societies are replete with extends beyond cognitive neuroscience, however, and is prejudice biases that shape the ways we think, act, and beginning to make waves in the philosophy of perception. Andy Clark has written that predictive processing creates a perceive. Indeed, a similar problem arises in machine “bootstrap heaven,” enabling the brain to develop complex learning applications when they are inadvertently trained on models of the world from limited data. I argue that the same socially biased data (Avery, 2019; N. T. Lee, 2018). The principles also create a “bootstrap hell,” wherein prejudice basic principle in operation here is “garbage in, garbage biases inherent in our inegalitarian societies result in out”: a predictive system that is trained on socially biased permanent perceptual modifications. -
The Extended Mind Andy Clark & David Chalmers1
The extended mind Andy Clark & David Chalmers1 1. Introduction Where does the mind stop and the rest of the world begin? The question invites two standard replies. Some accept the boundaries of skin and skull, and say that what is outside the body is outside the mind. Others are impressed by arguments suggesting that the meaning of our words ‘just ain’t in the head’, and hold that this externalism about meaning carries over into an externalism about mind. We propose to pursue a third posi- tion. We advocate a very different sort of externalism: an active externalism, based on the active role of the environment in driving cogni- tive processes. 2. Extended cognition Consider three cases of human problem-solving: (1) A person sits in front of a computer screen which displays images of various two-dimensional geometric shapes and is asked to answer questions concerning the potential fit of such shapes into depicted ‘sockets’. To assess fit, the person must mentally rotate the shapes to align them with the sockets. (2) A person sits in front of a similar computer screen, but this time can choose either to physically rotate the image on the screen, by pressing a rotate button, or to mentally rotate the image as before. We can also suppose, not unrealistically, that some speed advantage accrues to the physical rotation operation. (3) Sometime in the cyberpunk future, a person sits in front of a similar computer screen. This agent, however, has the benefit of a neural implant which can perform the rotation operation as fast as the computer in the previous example. -
Extended Cognition and Extended Consciousness∗
Extended Cognition and Extended Consciousness∗ David J. Chalmers It’s a pleasure to contribute to this volume honoring Andy Clark. Andy has been an influential figure for me ever since I read his first book Microcognition while I was in graduate school. A few years later I took up my first job as a post-doctoral fellow working with him in the newly initiated Philosophy-Neuroscience-Psychology program at Washington University in St Louis. We had a lot of adventures, but the one that seems to have left the most traces is our joint paper on “The Extended Mind”, which argued that cognitive processes can extend outside the brain and the body to include objects that we interact with in our environment. I recently came across hard copies of two early drafts of “The Extended Mind” in my files. The first draft was by Andy on his own, and is covered in handwritten comments by me. The second draft is a co-authored version with revisions by me, and is covered in handwritten comments by Andy. (I have put these two online at consc.net/papers/e-drafts.html.) There were many further iterations after that. The whole thing is a wonderful record of distributed and extended cognition, involving a complex cognitive process spread between Andy, me, various notes on paper, and computer files. I’m proud to have played a role in constituting this process. That said, I have to acknowledge that as with many cases of distributed cognition, there was an individual at the core who set the whole process into motion and who bears primary responsbility, and that individual was Andy. -
Extended Emotion
Forthcoming in Philosophical Psychology EXTENDED EMOTION J. Adam Carter, Emma C. Gordon & S. Orestis Palermos Abstract: Recent thinking within philosophy of mind about the ways cognition can extend (e.g. Clark 2011; Clark & Chalmers 1998; Wilson 2000, 2004; Menary 2006) has yet to be integrated with philosophical theories of emotion, which give cognition a central role. We carve out new ground at the intersection of these areas, and in doing so, defend what we call the extended emotion thesis: i.e., the claim that some emotions can extend beyond skin and skull to parts of the external world. 0. INTRODUCTION Under certain descriptions, the claim that emotions ‘extend’ can be used to express ideas that are natural and familiar. Marshall McLuhan, for instance, famously advocated a very broad and intuitive idea of ‘human extension’ according to which individuals’ intellectual and emotional lives could be thought of as ‘extending’ into the world, through the resources of mass media and technology1. Within academic philosophy, at least one familiar expression of the idea of emotions ‘extending’ can be traced to David Hume’s account of motivational psychology; on this view, sentiment is necessary to motivate action, and thus as the thought would go, we might think of emotions as ‘extending’ through the causal vehicle of the actions they motivate. A much more provocative way, however, to think about emotions extending is along the following lines: that emotions themselves can extend beyond biological agents, and include parts of the physical world, external to the agent. On this proposal, the notion of emotions extending is not a metaphysically innocent metaphor: rather, some emotions themselves are claimed to supervene partly on extraorganismic elements in the 1 McLuhan (1964) world. -
Language, Embodiment, and the Cognitive Niche
Opinion TRENDS in Cognitive Sciences Vol.10 No.8 Full text provided by www.sciencedirect.com Language, embodiment, and the cognitive niche Andy Clark School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences, University of Edinburgh, David Hume Tower, George Square, Edinburgh, EH8 9JX, UK Embodied agents use bodily actions and environmental in ways that (when successful) aid thinking and reasoning interventions to make the world a better place to think about some target domain or domains [11–13]. These in. Where does language fit into this emerging picture of physical structures combine with appropriate culturally the embodied, ecologically efficient agent? One useful transmitted practices to enhance problem-solving, and way to approach this question is to consider language (in the most dramatic cases) to make possible whole new itself as a cognition-enhancing animal-built structure. To forms of thought and reason. take this perspective is to view language as a kind of I present three ways in which to begin to flesh out this self-constructed cognitive niche: a persisting but never idea, and sketch a computational (connectionist and dyna- stationary material scaffolding whose crucial role in mical) framework in which to embed it. I end the argument promoting thought and reason remains surprisingly by suggesting an additional (non-essential but potentially poorly understood. It is the very materiality of this important) refinement: that linguistic activity might turn linguistic scaffolding, I suggest, that gives it some key out to be a mode of cognition-enhancing self-stimulation in benefits. By materializing thought in words, we create a system with no ‘Central Meaner’ orchestrating the whole structures that are themselves proper objects of percep- [14,15]. -
The Emergence of Distributed Cognition: a Conceptual Framework
submitted for Proceedings of Collective Intentionality IV, Siena (Italy), to be published as a special issue of Cognitive Systems Research The Emergence of Distributed Cognition: a conceptual framework Francis HEYLIGHEN, Margeret HEATH and Frank VAN OVERWALLE Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2, B-1050 Brussels, Belgium {fheyligh, mheath, fjvoverw}@vub.ac.be ABSTRACT: We propose a first step in the development of an integrated theory of the emergence of distributed cognition/extended mind. Distributed cognition is seen as the confluence of collective intelligence and “situatedness”, or the extension of cognitive processes into the physical environment. The framework is based on five fundamental assumptions: 1) groups of agents self-organize to form a differentiated, coordinated system, adapted to its environment, 2) the system co-opts external media for internal propagation of information, 3) the resulting distributed cognitive system can be modelled as a learning, connectionist network, 4) information in the network is transmitted selectively, 5) novel knowledge emerges through non-linear, recurrent interactions. The implication for collective intentionality is that such a self-organizing agent collective can develop “mental content” that is not reducible to individual cognitions. Extended Mind: collective intelligence and distributed cognition From a cybernetic perspective [Heylighen & Joslyn, 2001], a cognitive system cannot be understood as a discrete collection of beliefs, procedures, and/or modules. Cognition is a continuously evolving process which relates present perceptions via internal states to potential further perceptions and actions. It thus allows an agent to anticipate what may happen, adapt to changes in its environment, and moreover effect changes upon its environment [Kirsch & Maglio, 1994]. -
European Journal of Pragmatism and American Philosophy, IV - 1 | 2012, « Pragmatism and the Social Sciences: a Century of Influences and Interactions, Vol
European Journal of Pragmatism and American Philosophy IV - 1 | 2012 Pragmatism and the Social Sciences: A Century of Influences and Interactions, vol. 2 Roberto Frega and Filipe Careira Da Silva (dir.) Electronic version URL: http://journals.openedition.org/ejpap/758 DOI: 10.4000/ejpap.758 ISSN: 2036-4091 Publisher Associazione Pragma Electronic reference Roberto Frega and Filipe Careira Da Silva (dir.), European Journal of Pragmatism and American Philosophy, IV - 1 | 2012, « Pragmatism and the Social Sciences: A Century of Influences and Interactions, vol. 2 » [Online], Online since 23 July 2012, connection on 23 September 2020. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/ejpap/758 ; DOI : https://doi.org/10.4000/ejpap.758 This text was automatically generated on 23 September 2020. Author retains copyright and grants the European Journal of Pragmatism and American Philosophy right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution- NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS Symposia. Pragmatism and the Social Sciences: A Century of Influences and Interactions, vol.2 Pragmatism and the Social Sciences A Century of Influences and Interactions, vol. 2 Roberto Frega and Filipe Carreira da Silva Section I. Classical Pragmatists and Contemporary Sociology Peirce and Iconology Habitus, Embodiment, and the Analogy between Philosophy and Architecture Tullio Viola Experiencing Practical Knowledge Emerging Convergences of Pragmatism and Sociological Practice Theory Tanja Bogusz The Social Scientist, the Public, and the Pragmatist Gaze Exploring the Critical Conditions of Sociological Inquiry Philippe Gonzalez and Laurence Kaufmann Section II. Law, Power, and the Prospects of a Pragmatist Social Theory Naturalistic Values and Progressive Politics A Missing Link Between Pragmatism and Social Theory Christoph Henning American Pragmatism and European Social Theory Holmes, Durkheim, Scheler, and the Sociology of Legal Knowledge Frederic R. -
Extended Cognition and Extended Consciousness∗
Extended Cognition and Extended Consciousness∗ David J. Chalmers It’s a pleasure to contribute this paper to Andy Clark and his Critics. Andy has been an influential figure for me ever since I read his first book Microcognition while I was in graduate school. A few years later I took up my first job as a post-doctoral fellow working with him in the newly initiated Philosophy-Neuroscience-Psychology program at Washington University in St Louis. We had a lot of adventures, but the one that seems to have left the most traces is our joint paper on “The Extended Mind”, which argued that cognitive processes can extend outside the brain and the body to include objects that we interact with in our environment. I recently came across hard copies of two early drafts of “The Extended Mind” in my files. The first draft was by Andy on his own, and is covered in handwritten comments by me. The second draft is a co-authored version with revisions by me, and is covered in handwritten comments by Andy. (I have put these two online at consc.net/papers/e-drafts.html.) There were many further iterations after that. The whole thing is a wonderful record of distributed and extended cognition, involving a complex cognitive process spread between Andy, me, various notes on paper, and computer files. I’m proud to have played a role in constituting this process. That said, I have to acknowledge that as with many cases of distributed cognition, there was an individual at the core who set the whole process into motion and who bears primary responsbility, and that individual was Andy. -
5. Connectionism and Consciousness
The Mind: Embodied, Embedded, but not Extended Gerard O’Brien Department of Philosophy University of Adelaide South Australia 5005 [email protected] http://arts.adelaide.edu.au/Philosophy/gobrien.htm Draft @ August 1997 Appeared in Review Symposium on Andy Clark’s Being There: Putting Brain, Body and World Together Again, Metascience 7:78-83 (1998) Perhaps it’s a mark of the sheer vitality of the relatively young field of cognitive science that it’s grappling with its third major paradigm in the space of just thirty years. While the roots of the discipline can be traced back to 1960s, its real beginnings occurred in the early 1970s with the application of ideas derived from conventional digital computers to human cognition, spawning the now appropriately named classical computational theory of mind: the doctrine that cognition is a species of symbol manipulation. Then, in the mid-1980s, the field witnessed its first major shake-up with the advent of neurally-inspired, parallel distributed processing (PDP) computational models, which substituted operations over activation patterns for symbol manipulations, and many theorists in the field started talking passionately about connectionism. Now, scarcely ten years later, the field is once again in tumult, this time with the arrival of dynamical systems theory, which, because it eschews the concept of representation, threatens to create an even greater rift in the field than that which occurred between connectionism and classicism. It is in this revolutionary milieu that Andy Clark’s latest book Being There is situated. Clark rose to prominence through his advocacy of connectionism, with his two previous books (Microcognition Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1989, and Associative Engines Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1993) containing some of the most penetrating philosophical work to be found on this alternative approach to the mind. -
Supersizing the Mind (Henceforth, SSM) Was a Book with a Double Mission
Philosophical Studies Book Symposium on Supersizing the Mind: Embodiment, Action, and Cognitive Extension (Oxford University Press, NY, 2008) Précis, and Author’s Response. Précis of Supersizing the Mind: Embodiment, Action, and Cognitive Extension (Oxford University Press, NY, 2008) Andy Clark Supersizing the Mind (henceforth, SSM) was a book with a double mission. The first mission was to display and discuss the rich and varied landscape of recent work in the area of (broadly speaking) embodied, environmentally embedded, cognitive science. To this end, I canvassed and organized a wide range of examples in which fine details of embodiment, of worldly action, and of worldly resources, could be seen to make diverse and unexpectedly deep contributions to human cognitive achievements. The second mission, building in many ways upon the first, was to pursue the more radical suggestion that is now known as the Hypothesis of Extended Cognition1. This was the suggestion2 that in some such cases, there is a sufficiently dense degree of inter-animation between the neural and the gross-bodily, or even between the organismic and the extra-organismic, for it to become ill- warranted and unproductive to reserve the label of ‘cognitive processing’ for the inner, neural or organismic contributions alone. Of course, the mere fact of dense inter-animation will not be enough: there may well be dense inter-animation between, say, the sailor and the sailboat, or between the 1 digestive tract and the brain, without either the sailor-sailboat or the brain-digestive