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Computer as a Way to Expand The Brain

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Words: 1285 |

Pages: 3|

7 min read

Published: Apr 29, 2022

Words: 1285|Pages: 3|7 min read

Published: Apr 29, 2022

The idea of the 'expanded self' is a mental idea that clarifies why some people structure such solid connections to their stuff and to things: When we make cherished memories with objects, or when objects assist us with holding memories we value, we believe those things to be a piece of us. It's anything but difficult to perceive any reason why this may occur with our phones, since we use them so regularly to speak with friends and family, or to take pictures and record videos of special moments. From our friends' phone numbers to our everyday schedule, there are such a large number of things we don't have to remember, because we know they're in our phones. As devices, such as cellphones, are becoming more absorbed in our daily lives, a major assumption is that they’re taking control over the basic functions of the human mind. For that reason, I believe that my iPhone is an extension of my mind. Andy Clark, a philosopher and cognitive scientist believes that the mind extends into the world and is regularly trapped with a whole range of devices.

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In Clarks article “Out of Our Brains” he poses the question “Is it possible that, sometimes at least, some of the activity that enables us to be the thinking, knowing, agents that we are occurs outside the brain?”cite

He compares it to a familiar kind of case that most people make hand gestures when they talk. It was expected that this bodily action served at best some expressive need, maybe one of emphasis or representation however psychologists have questioned this assumption, suspecting that the bodily motions may themselves play a functioning role in our thought process. Whatever the case may be, Clark believes that the brain is obviously deeply implicated. No one accepts that the physical handwaving’s are by themselves, however it may be that they are adding to the thinking and reasoning, possibly by lessening or otherwise adjusting the tasks that the brain must perform, and thus helping us to move our own speculation along. Cite

Brains are the locus of incredible versatility and processing power and will be the key to practically any form of cognitive success. Clark also mentions those outside the biological body such as iPhones which change and broaden the range of bare biological processing in so many ways. He believes these may in some cases be best seen, as bio-external elements in an extended cognitive process: one that now criss-crosses the regular limits of skin and skull. cite

Clark poses another approach to the idea by comparison with the use of prosthetic limbs. Inevitably, a good prosthetic limb functions not as an insignificant device yet as a non-biological bodily part. Progressively, the form and structure of such limbs is outfitted to specific capacities and does not replicate the full form and structure of the original biological template. As our information-processing technologies improve and turn out to be better and better adjusted to fit the specialty provided by the biological brain, they become more like cognitive prosthetics: non-biological circuits that come to work as parts of the material underpinnings of minds like ours. cite

If we can fix a cognitive function by the utilization of non-biological circuitry, then we can expand and alter cognitive functions that way too. If a wired interface is acceptable, then, at that point, a wire-free interface such as links your brain to your notepad, BlackBerry or iPhone must be acceptable as well. What counts is the flow and alteration of information, not the medium through which it moves.

As indicated by the philosopher Andy Clark, our psychological states, similar to our beliefs or our memories, aren't in every case just 'in our minds'. They are spread out. In other words, it isn't only that I use my contact list in my phone to help me to remember, my genuine remembering is somewhat comprised by the phone itself. It is a combo of brain and computer chips. I am not sure whether I agree with Clark and Chalmers about the entire mind, but I am more convinced that one sort of mental state, the state of my knowing something, is often extended to our digital devices.

My knowing, at least in the passive, receptive sense of “knowing”, is definitely outsourced to my phone. And that is why I often feel 100% less knowledgeable when I don’t have ready access to it. If something like this is right, it helps to explain why we worry about losing more control over access to our smart devices. What and how I know it is part of my mind; but if what and how I know is partly composed of what happens on my phone, if it is “spread out” in that way, then unlocking our devices is not simply like unlocking our house. It is more like opening up our minds.

All things considered; your cell phone is considerably more than only a phone. It can tell a more personal story about you than your closest friend. No other piece of equipment ever, not even in your brain, contains the quality or amount of information kept on your phone: it 'knows' whom you talk to, when you talk to them, what you stated, where you have been, your purchases, pictures, biometric information, even your notes to yourself. Objects, such as cell phones or notepads are regularly just as practically fundamental to our cognition as the neural connections in our minds. They enlarge and broaden our minds by expanding our cognitive power and opening up internal assets.

Mobile devices such as smartphones play an increasingly significant role in our daily lives. We rely on our digital devices for doing our jobs, maintaining friendships, navigating traffic, or relaxing after work, and our physical and emotional attachment to them has deepened accordingly. One of the most pertinent questions for the 21st century will be how these increasingly intelligent and invasive technologies will affect our minds. Many think digital technologies are fundamentally shaping how we think, process information, and engage in social relationships. At the core of the current debate is the notion that today’s digital devices are becoming so thoroughly integrated in our lives, that, for better or for worse, they start taking over basic human functions. The current generation of technology is fundamentally different from earlier innovations in the sense that it is mobile and provides continuous access to limitless networks of knowledge and social contacts. The assumption is that because of these qualities, our devices–and through them the Internet–are becoming a primary form of external memory, taking over this task from the brain. For instance, when people expect to have future access to information, they have lower rates of recall of the information itself and enhanced recall for

where to access it instead. Furthermore, we consider our smartphone an extension of ourselves and separation from it heightens state anxiety and impairs executive functioning.

Things my brain used to do are now done by my iPhone, for example take memory: How many people use their brains to remember phone numbers anymore? my iPhone does all the work. It used to be, the biological memory that carried the load, now the iPhone is carrying the load for me, acting as my memory. The iPhone serves to control planning functions that my brain used to do such as Spatial navigation going from my brain into Google Maps.

Your mind is extending from your brain into the world, so the iPhone is actually part of it. The iPhone hasn’t been implanted into your mind, but you might think it’s as if it were in.

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So, the iPhone’s memory is basically my memory. The iPhone’s planning or navigation is basically my planning and navigation as if it had happened inside the brain. 

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Cite this Essay

Computer As A Way To Expand The Brain. (2022, April 29). GradesFixer. Retrieved March 28, 2024, from https://gradesfixer.com/free-essay-examples/computer-as-a-way-to-expand-the-brain/
“Computer As A Way To Expand The Brain.” GradesFixer, 29 Apr. 2022, gradesfixer.com/free-essay-examples/computer-as-a-way-to-expand-the-brain/
Computer As A Way To Expand The Brain. [online]. Available at: <https://gradesfixer.com/free-essay-examples/computer-as-a-way-to-expand-the-brain/> [Accessed 28 Mar. 2024].
Computer As A Way To Expand The Brain [Internet]. GradesFixer. 2022 Apr 29 [cited 2024 Mar 28]. Available from: https://gradesfixer.com/free-essay-examples/computer-as-a-way-to-expand-the-brain/
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