The Mind Technology Problem and the Deep History of Mind Design

Robert W. Clowes, Klaus Gärtner, Inês Hipólito

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapterpeer-review

2 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

We are living through a new phase in human development where much of everyday life – at least in the most technologically developed parts of the world – has come to depend upon our interaction with “smart” artefacts. Alongside this increasing adoption and ever-deepening reliance on intelligent machines, important changes have been taking place, often in the background, as to how we think of ourselves and how we conceptualize our relationship with technology. As we design, create and learn to live with a new order of artefacts which exhibit behavior that, were it to be carried out by human beings would be seen as intelligent, the ways in which we conceptualize intelligence, minds, reasoning and related notions such as self and agency are undergoing profound shifts. We argue that the basic background assumptions informing our concepts of mind, and the underlying conceptual scheme structuring our reasoning about minds has recently been transformed in the process. This shift has changed the nature and quality of both our folk understanding of mind, our scientific psychology, and the philosophical problems that the interaction of these realms produce. Many of the traditional problems in the philosophy of mind have become reconfigured in the process. This introduction sets the scene for our book that treats this reconfiguration of our concepts of mind and of technology, and the new casting of philosophical problems this reconfiguration engenders.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationStudies in Brain and Mind
EditorsRobert W. Clowes, Klaus Gärtner, Inês Hipólito
Place of PublicationCham
PublisherSpringer
Pages1-45
Number of pages45
ISBN (Electronic)978-3-030-72644-7
ISBN (Print)978-3-030-72643-0
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2021

Publication series

NameStudies in Brain and Mind
Volume18
ISSN (Print)1573-4536
ISSN (Electronic)2468-399X

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'The Mind Technology Problem and the Deep History of Mind Design'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this