# On PKMs and the extended mind thesis from:: [[Memex]] related:: [[On why and how I use Obsidian as my PKM]] Some of the mechanisms for how a notes system can be so beneficial are becoming clearer due to the recent [[The extended mind|extended mind]] perspective advanced by [[Andy Clark]] and [[David Chalmers]]. That is, the "second brain" metaphor for a PKM notes system is not as [[Metaphor|metaphorical]] as one might think. The extended mind theory suggests that our mind's boundaries are not the same as our brain's. Our conscious experience (the intangible mental properties, [[qualia]], etc. that we consider part of our [[Philosophy of mind|mind]], as opposed to the anatomical brain) can extend beyond our head, into our limbs, and even into the tools we use. Consider the cognition of a baseball player at bat - the batter must perceive their bat as an extension of their body to be effective. Or consider the lost art of memorizing phone numbers due to being able to rely on cell phones instead of our brain - we only need to remember *how* to access that info, regardless of where it is. Chalmers has a [good introductory explanation](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ksasPjrYFTg). There are no compelling reasons to insist that the locus of [[cognition]] must only occur inside our skull. In fact, the crux of the [[mind-body problem]] is the difficulty in explaining the fundamentally [[Objectivity|subjective]] and inherently intangible nature of conscious experience nonetheless occurring in a tangible body. The extended mind hypothesis partially alleviates this crux by taking a [[Non-reductive materialism|less reductive]] and less [[Ontology|ontological]]ly-prescriptive approach with a greater weight given to the [[Emergence|emergent]] and [[Quality (philosophy)|qualitative]] aspects of the mind. Further, the extended mind theory is just part of a broader and comprehensive new theory of the mind as laid out by Clark in [[The Experience Machine]], which I *highly* recommend. The book reveals numerous interesting implications in the [[philosophy of mind]], [[mental health]], [[psychology]], [[neuroscience]], and the [[philosophy of technology]]. #to/expand : - Implications in [[philosophy of technology]] and [[explanatory power]] - Example of non-reductive [[paradigm shift]]s like [[mutual constitution of culture and mind]], [[Binary opposition]] and other consiliences. - Implications in a [[telos (philosophy)|teleology]] of [[Codex/Tech/Tech|technology]] and current crop of [[Artificial Intelligence|AI]]. - [[Writing as thinking]], PKMs, AI, and [[Martin Heidegger]]'s technology as 'ready at hand' - History of how we always understand the mind via the most salient current technology %% ## Philosophical Implications This approach also gains the benefit of having a wider applicable domain and higher [[explanatory power]] due to its move up to the [[intentional stance]] and treatment of [[intentionality]] as ontologically non-reductive. It is simply more explanatory and less mysterious to not prefigure our understanding as always and ultimately reducing to neurons in a brain in a skull. Just as subjective, qualitative experience deserves equal footing with the [[Quantification (science)|quantitative]] and [[Empiricism|empirical]], the extended mind approach also helps move the needle toward primary consideration of entities beyond the sometimes reductively individuated body and toward a better conceptualization of social entities like groups, societies, economies, cultures, and technology. The nature of reductive vs non-reductive does not entail any of these things not ultimately supervening on the physical - only that their ontology, conceptualization do not need to have a complete and non-emergent physical explanation. mutual constitution and dao notions, etc. non-linearity, integration, process - ultimately the humanistic - humans as, if anything, more of an idealism-based qualitative, subjective, intentional, non-reductive, non-brain in a vat, not uploaded consciousness Ie, extended mind > emergence/extension/idealism/subjectivity/qualia > tools and tech as thinking/mind > thinking/intentionality/tools as extending outside body and also into society/structures/systems, etc. > thinking as qualitiative/subjective extension > tech as thinking, writing as thinking writing as tool, extension, etc. > tech as humanism, age of AI, yada yada that antidote that we always understand the mind via the most salient current technology philosophy as first technology vice versa tech as extended - tool and ready at hand, yes beyond the body, but also to and in social structures, society, economies, etc. technology as the combination and conclusion of all of this phiosophy of tech %%