Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Engineering the Minds of the Future: An Intergenerational Approach to Cognitive Technology

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Axiomathes Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The first part of this article makes the case that human cognition is an intergenerational project enabled by the inheritance and bequeathal of cognitive technology (Sects. 2–4). The final two sections of the article (Sects. 5 and 6) explore the normative significance of this claim. My case for the intergenerational claim draws results from multiple disciplines: philosophy (Sect. 2), cultural evolutionary approaches in cognitive science (Sect. 3), and developmental psychology and neuroscience (Sect. 4). In Sect. 5, I propose that cognitive technology should be given to future generations in accordance with principles of pluralism and transparency. In the final main section of the article, Sect. 6, I apply these principles to topics such as the preservation of information, environmental offloading of cognition, and thinking itself.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. There is a large literature on the topic, but some main texts include: Donald (1993), Kirsch (1995), Hutchins (1995), Clark (1998), Clark and Chalmers (1998), Tomasello (1999), Sterelny (2003), Menary (2010), Malafouris (2013).

  2. For a recent treatment of the historical trajectory of technology from a Hegelian perspective, see Kislev (2020).

  3. For instance, we see the influence of Husserl’s focus on the written word in the work of Jacques Derrida (1989) and Bernard Stiegler (1998, 2009, 2015) as well as in the “postphenomenological” project of Don Ihde (1990, 2009). It would be valuable, though well beyond the scope of this article, to consider my claims here in engagement with the corpora of Stiegler and Ihde. There are areas of thematic overlap between my approach and theirs, but also important differences. My methodology draws from empirical work in cognitive science and my focus here is on the intergenerational nature of cognitive technologies.

  4. See the recent Synthese special issue on Mathematical Cognition and Enculturation for a treatment of related topics by contemporary cognitive science (Pantsar and Dutilh Novaes 2020).

  5. Sterelny (2003: 117–118), Mithen (1996: chapter 2).

  6. Derrida took up this theme from Plato in an early and well-known essay, “Plato’s Pharmacy” (1981). Stiegler develops the theme into a central part of his philosophical thought as pharmacologie (2015).

  7. I should make a quick note on the issue of technological determinism. If one is committed to a strong version of technological determinism according to which humans have no genuine agency over the course of technological development, then there is no point in developing principles for developing and sharing cognitive technology. I am approaching the topic with the assumption that we have some role in determining the trajectory of cognitive technology over time, a view that is compatible with a sort of soft determinism (Heilbroner 1967).

  8. I thank a referee for pointing out that pluralism and transparency are analogous to diversity and parsimony in statistical modelling. Since machine learning is dominated by statistical modelling, we might gain new insight here into the relationship between machine learning and cognitive technology.

  9. Thus we arrive at a convergence between the “downstream informational engineering” of Sterelny (2003) and Floridi’s concept of the “infosphere” (2014), despite the fact that the two thinkers are somewhat removed from one another in methodology and tradition. An examination of this convergence is beyond the scope of this article.

  10. I thank an anonymous referee for raising this point.

  11. For a review of evidence that predictability is a main cue for generating the sense of agency, see Farrer and Frith (2002) and Farrer et al. (2008). In order to see the case for fluency as a main cue, see Chambon et al. (2014). Both Microsoft and Apple advise app designers to create a user interface (UI) that incorporates both predictability and fluency. For example, “An experience feels intuitive when it behaves the way the user expects it to. By using established controls and patterns and taking advantage of platform support for accessibility and globalization, you create an effortless experience … Fluent experiences use controls and patterns consistently, so they behave in ways the user has learned to expect.” The quotation was accessed on March 13, 2020 at https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/apps/fluent-design-system.

References

  • Auersperg A, von Bayern A, Weber S, Szabadvari A, Bugnyar T, Kacelnik A (2014) Social transmission of tool use and tool manufacture in Goffin cockatoos (Cacatua goffini). Proc R Soc B 281:20140972

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baumbach D, Miller L (2006) Less is more: a practical guide to weeding school library collections. American Library Association, Chicago

    Google Scholar 

  • Carr N (2010) The shallows: what the internet is doing to our brains. Norton and Co, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Casler K, Terziyan T, Greene K (2009) Toddlers view artifact function normatively. Cogn Dev 24(3):240–247

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chambon V, Sidarus N, Haggard P (2014) From action intentions to action effects: How does the sense of agency come about? Front Hum Neurosci 8:320

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clark A (1998) Being there: putting brain, body, and world together again. MIT Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Clark A (2014) Mindware: an introduction to the philosophy of cognitive science, 2nd edn. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Clark A, Chalmers D (1998) The extended mind. Analysis 58(1):7–19

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cutting N, Apperly I, Beck S (2011) Why do children lack the flexibility to innovate tools? J Exp Child Psychol 109(4):497–511

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Danzig T (1954) Number: the language of science. Free Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Dascal M, Dror I (2005) The impact of cognitive technologies: towards a pragmatic approach. Pragmat Cogn 13(3):451–457

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Derrida J (1981) Plato’s pharmacy. In: Johnson B (ed) Dissemination. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, pp 61–171

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Derrida J (1989) Edmund Husserl’s origin of geometry, an introduction, J. Leavey trans. University of Nebraska Press

  • Donald M (1993) Origins of the modern mind: three stages in the evolution of culture and cognition. Harvard University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Farrer C, Frith C (2002) Experiencing oneself vs. another person as being the cause of an action: the neural correlates of the experience of agency. Neuroimage 15:596–603

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Farrer C, Bouchereau M, Jeannerod M, Franck N (2008) Effect of distorted visual feedback on the sense of agency. Behav Neurol 19(1–2):53–57

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Floridi L (2002) On the intrinsic value of information objects and the infosphere. Ethics Inf Technol 4(4):287–304

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Floridi L (2013) The ethics of information. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Floridi L (2014) The fourth revolution: how the infosphere is reshaping human reality. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Heersmink R (2016) The internet, cognitive enhancement, and the values of cognition. Mind Mach 26:389–407

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Heilbroner R (1967) Do machines make history? Technol Cult 8(3):335–345

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Husserl E (1970) The Crisis of European sciences and transcendental phenomenology, D. Carr, trans. Evanston: Northwestern University Press

  • Husserl E (1993) Logische Untersuchungen (3 vols.). Tübingen: Max Niemeyer. (1900)

  • Hutchins E (1995) Cognition in the wild. MIT Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Ienca M (2019) Democratizing cognitive technology: a proactive approach. Ethics Inf Technol 21:267–280

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ihde D (1990) Technology and the lifeworld: from garden to earth. Indiana University Press, Bloomington and Indianapolis

    Google Scholar 

  • Ihde D (2009) Postphenomenology and technoscience: the peking university lectures. State University of New York Press, Albany

    Google Scholar 

  • Illich I (1993) In the vineyard of the text: a commentary to Hugh’s didascalicon. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago

    Google Scholar 

  • Kirsch D (1995) The intelligent use of space. Artif Intell 73:31–68

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kislev S (2020) Six Hegelian theses about technology. Techné Res Philos Technol. https://doi.org/10.5840/techne2020730125

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Malafouris L (2013) How things shape the mind: a theory of material engagement. MIT Press, Cambridge

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Marx K (1859/2014) A contribution to the critique of political economy in Sharff and Dusek, eds

  • Menary R (ed) (2010) The extended mind. MIT Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Mithen S (1996) The prehistory of the mind. Thames & Hudson, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Ong W (1982/2012) Orality and literacy: the technologizing of the word. Routledge

  • Pantsar M, Dutilh Novaes C (eds) (2020) Synthese: special issue on mathematical cognition and enculturation, vol 197 (no 9)

  • Pascual-Leone A et al (2005) The plastic human brain cortex. Annu Rev Neurosci 28:377–401

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Plato (1961) The collected dialogues of Plato, E. Hamilton and H. Cairns, eds. Princeton University Press

  • Ritchie S, Tucker-Drob E (2018) How much does education improve intelligence? A meta-analysis. Psychol Sci 29(8):1358–1369

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Scharff R, Dusek V (eds) (2014) Philosophy of technology: the technological condition, 2nd ed. Wiley Blackwell

  • Slote S (1997) Weeding library collections: library weeding methods, 4th edn. Libraries Unlimited Inc., Engelwood

    Google Scholar 

  • Sterelny K (2003) Thought in a hostile world. Blackwell Publishing

  • Stiegler B (1998) Technics and time, 1: the fault of epimetheus, R. Beardsworth and G. Collins, trans. Stanford: Stanford University Press

  • Stiegler B (2009) Technics and time, 2: disorientation, S. Barker, trans. Stanford: Stanford University Press

  • Stiegler B (2015) States of shock: stupidity and knowledge in the twenty-first century, D. Ross trans. Polity Press

  • Takeuchi H et al (2016) Impact of reading habit on white matter structure: cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses. Neuroimage 133:378–389

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Taylor C (1975) Hegel. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Tomasello M (1999) The cultural origins of human cognition. Harvard University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Tomasello M et al (2005) Understanding and sharing intentions: the origins of cultural cognition. Behav Brain Sci 28:675–735

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wegner D (2002) The illusion of conscious will. MIT Press

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Wheeler M (2019) The reappearing tool: transparency, smart technology, and the extended mind. AI Soc 34:857–866

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Whiten A, Horner V, de Waal F (2005) Conformity to cultural norms of tool use in chimpanzees. Nature 437:737–740

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zebroff D, Kaufman D (2017) Texting, reading, and other daily habits associated with adolescents’ literacy levels. Educ Inf Technol 22:2197–2216

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of the Pacific, Stockton, USA

    Michael Madary

Authors
  1. Michael Madary
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Michael Madary.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Madary, M. Engineering the Minds of the Future: An Intergenerational Approach to Cognitive Technology. Axiomathes 32, 1281–1295 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10516-021-09580-5

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10516-021-09580-5

Keywords

Search

Navigation