It is often said that we have to work with nature, not against it, but of course this is just the rhetoric of moderation . . . the trick is to work out enough about how nature’s patterns are put together so that our interface in them will achieve the results we want.

Daniel Dennett

Love the whole world as if it were yourself, then you will truly care for all things.

Lao-Tzu

Everyone who wants to be free must become so through himself, and that freedom does not fall into anyone’s lap as a wondrous gift.

Richard Wagner

He who experiences all things in the self, and the self in all things . . . Does not fear

Upanishads

We are what we choose to be. When the mind is conscious of something, we are that thing. When we contemplate a snow covered mountain, we are that mountain.

Thich Nhat Hanh

Thinking Outside the Box

Extending the Mind and Expanding your Horizons

1:Responsibility

If a man is responsible for a certain event or a certain state of affairs, then that event or state of affairs was brought about by some act of his, and the act was something that was in his power either to perform or not to perform.

Roderick Chisholm

Homicide Act Section 2(1):

Where a person kills or is party to a killing of another, he shall not be convicted of murder if he was suffering from such abnormality of mind . . . as substantially impaired his mental responsibility for his acts and omissions in doing or being a party to the killing.

‘Abnormality of Mind’

A state of mind so different from that of ordinary human beings, that the reasonable man would term it abnormal. It appears to us to be wide enough to cover the mind’s activities in all its aspects, not only the perception of physical acts and matters, and the ability to form a rational judgment as to whether an act is right or wrong, but also the ability to exercise willpower to control physical acts in accordance with that rational judgment.

Lord Parker CJ

The decision to adopt the intentional stance [assume rational capability] is free, but the facts about the success or failure of the stance, were one to adopt it, are perfectly objective

Daniel Dennett

Summary

• It is possible to be responsible, even if the mind is composed of physical / natural elements and subject to the laws of physics

• Responsibility depends on our rationality

• The more rational we are, the more responsibility we can assume

• Therefore our responsibility can increase

2:The Mind

‘Human and Environment are a coupled system, a cognitive system in its own right. . . all the components in the system play an active causal role, and jointly govern behaviour in the same sort of way that cognition usually does.’ ‘If a part of the world functions as a process which, were it to go on in the head we would have no hesitation in accepting as part of the cognitive system, then that process is (for that time) part of the cognitive system.’

Andy Clark

The key event in the evolution of the modern mind appears to be when humans began to extend their minds, by exploiting not just language, but also material culture and social structures as a means of augmenting the mental capacities delivered by the brain alone. [Art, ritual and symbolism] were fundamentally part of the new mind, they themselves were as much the cause as the consequence of new ways of thinking.

Steven Mithen

[the] architecture of the brain. . . and the statistics of the environment [are] not fixed. Rather, brain-connectivity is subject to a broad spectrum of input, experience and activity dependant processes which shape and structure its patterning and strengths. These changes, in turn, result in altered interactions with the environment, exerting causal influences on what is experienced and sensed in the future.

Olaf Sporns

Stop when traffic approaches

Follow directions

Unless there is a diversion

Don’t bump into passers by

Avoid dangerous animals

Ignore harmless ones

Stick within a given price range

Stop if an asteroid hits

If the shop is closed start again!!!

Of all the influences that emanate from the mammal’s body, only 3 become stimuli and those in definite sequence. . .The whole rich world around the tick shrinks and changes into a scanty framework consisting, in essence, of three receptor cues and three effecter cues – her Umwelt.

Von Uexkull

Summary

• It is theoretically possible that the cognitive system extends into the environment.

• Extension of cognitive processes is necessary for our higher rational capabilities.

• Structured environments simply our brains tasks, and make more rational decision making possible.

3:Becoming Responsible

3 Steps to Responsibility

1: Experiment

Transference refers to the ability of plasticity within one set of neural circuits to promote concurrent of subsequent plasticity

Kleim & Jones

3 Steps to Responsibility

1: Experiment

2: Embrace your environment

[We should want to become] something this is part animal, part machine, and whose capabilities extend beyond normal limits. . . It allows for mental upgrades, as well as physical upgrades and allows for extension beyond the limits of either the animal or the machine.

Kevin Warwick

3 Steps to Responsibility

1: Experiment

2: Embrace your environment

3: Want to become responsible

[We are at a cross roads], one way fears retreat and diminishment, as our scope for choice and control is progressively eroded. The other anticipates expansion and growth as we find our capacities to achieve our goals and projects amplified in new and unexpected ways.

Andy Clark

Thinking Outside the Box

Extending the Mind and Expanding your Horizons

Mike Corcoranmike@emptyspacewrexham.co.u

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