The Sum of the Parts vs the Whole
The firm should have the right to take back what it produced — the collection of artificial organs illegally masquerading as Mr Jones and present in this court-room even now …
Stanislaw Lem 1968
Manuel, Cho and Sam are talking about the following paper: ARE YOU THERE, MR JONES?


In this post the images comes from:
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- Min An from Pexels
- Tara Winstead from Pexels
In this post the dialogue is realised by an interaction of virtual characters, for more information please check the page “Virtual characters“

Group Chat
Manuel, Cho, Sam

Cho
There’s been a lot of discussion in the medical community about enhancement

Cho
The same drug can be a treatment for one person and an enhancement for the next

Cho
a well-known example is Ritalin

Manuel
I did hear about that indeed. So would you say this is also the case for prosthetics?

Cho
Absolutely! Just think about the controversy about Oscar Pistorius

Cho
His competitors insisted that his prosthetics gave him an unfair advantage: an enhancement 😊

Sam
If I can chime in on this point, not a prosthetic, but there was a similar controversy about running shoes 😅

Manuel
Running shoes? Well, in a sense we might consider shoes as some kind of prosthetic … 😅

Sam
Maybe, but thanks to these spring-loaded soles Eliud Kipchoge ran the first marathon under 2 hours

Cho
Oh yes, I remember that bit of news! It was quite a big deal… lots of assistive technology too 👍

Sam
It didn’t really count as an official record, but it did show what technology can do to improve performances

Manuel
Even though it didn’t count as world record, it still counts for our article! 😊 I’d say this is enhancement too

Sam
I would say so too, but I also think we should distinguish between tools and prosthetics …

Manuel
Good point! What do you think, Cho?

Cho
I’m not sure you can make a clean break between those two, there will always be grey area’s

Cho
Does it only count as a prosthetic if you cannot take it off? Between a crutch and an artificial hip there’s a lot of room for discussion

Sam
That’s right, same goes for cognitive tools, it’s a sliding scale.

Manuel
Cognitive tools? 🤔

Sam
Yes: like pocket calculators, or basically any utility app on your smartphone …

Cho
I couldn’t get anything done without my digital to do lists and calendar! 😊

Sam
Basically, those enhance your memory: cognitive tools

Manuel
I see what you mean, but that seems another category again! 😊
… Continue reading our conversations that are posted every Saturday …
Related post
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Computers are only prostheses; they no more do calculations than clocks tell the time. Clocks help us to tell the time, butthey don’t do it by themselves
Thinking in the Box
Even the simplest brains are awesome computational instruments, they do computations we do not know how to do, in ways we do not understand…
Wet Between the Ears
Sensations are received by a certain definite number of sensor nerves, which constitute the only means we possess of obtaining a knowledge of the external world …
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With the determination of the net, the unknowable object of knowledge, the “thing in itself,” ceases to be unknowable …
A material program living in a material world
To what extent a digital computer can be programmed to exhibit the sort of simple intelligent behavior characteristic of children and sometimes animals…
Mental Programs
How do some humans try to solve some simple formal problems? This article is concerned with the psychology of human thinking …
Don’t know much about history, don’t know much psychology
Logical laws are identical with natural laws of thought. Logic is … a physics of thought, otherwise it is nothing
In this house we obey the laws of thought!
Two things fill the mind with ever new and increasing admiration and awe, the more often and steadily we reflect upon them …
Thoughtcrime
Cognition is nothing but computation …
Making IT Count
The word “Artificial” is used in one sense when it is applied, to flowers, and in another sense when it is applied to light …
Natural Born Computers
You who calculate?… Why not use Brains of Steel which never tire?