Natural-born Cyborgs
A copy of my review of Andy Clark’s Natural-Born Cyborgs is now available through MindPapers.
Author: manwithoutqualities
Browse by:
Stigmergic epistemology, stigmergic cognition
My recent co-authored paper now available to download through MindPapers. The abstract: To know is to cognize, to cognize is to be a culturally bounded, rationality-bounded and environmentally located agent. Knowledge and cognition are thus dual aspects of human sociality. If social epistemology has the formation, acquisition, mediation, transmission and dissemination of knowledge in complex…
The Outsourced Brain
A journalistic take on what is essentially active externalism or the thesis of the extended mind. David Brooks (yes, THAT David Brooks) implicitly refers to notions of collaborative filtering, swarming, stigmergy, and even memetics. Of course, one suspects that Brooks has only the slighest conceptual inkling of what’s going on. Notions of the extended mind enjoy currency both in academic and popular literature: the ‘‘global…
Oakeshott Raffle
Once again as part of its fundraising effort, the Michale Oakeshott Association is holding a raffle in support of its forthcoming conference in Jena. And once again, Imprint Academic, has put up the bulk of the prize – their full holding of Oakeshottiana which this year will include Oakeshott’s eagerly awaited The Concept of a Philosophical…
MindPapers
The best online mind resource just got better. Dave Chalmers, in association with David Bourget, have just launched an upgraded version called MindPapers. The announcement from Chalmers. If ever there was a project that meets the needs of a community, it is this. Chalmers has done us an immense service.
Tim Crane on mind and body
A brief introductory, though opinionated, audio piece on mind and body with philosopher of mind and superb expositor, Tim Crane. Made possible courtesy of Philosophy Bites, a nice resource with several other introductory philosophical discussions.
True vs false beliefs
I’ve just come across an article entitled “Gamma Oscillations Distinguish True From False Memories” that has just appeared in the November issue of Psychological Science. I haven’t had an opportunity to read the article beyond the abstract: To test whether distinct patterns of electrophysiological activity prior to a response can distinguish true from false memories, we…
Delaying Dementia
This article from Canadian Press struck a nerve. Not being au fait with the recent clinical literature on the subject of Alzheimer’s I was interested to read that there is a correlation between the formally educated mind and the onset of dementia. As a child of a dementia sufferer (a mother – cultured and refined but not…
Brights or the “New” Atheism
Atheism is big publishing business these days. The rash of recent bestsellers has been dubbed the “New” Atheism – and the loose coalition of those who subsribe to the naturalism promoted across these books – as Brights. I want to make four points: 1. I resent the haughtiness of the term “bright”. The term fails to capture many…
