*Please distribute to others who may be interested...* You are hereby invited to the next weekly seminar in our interdisciplinary series on Evolution, Complexity and Cognition<http://ecco.vub.ac.be/?q=node/108>(ECCO) and theGlobal Brain Institute<http://www.globalbraininstitute.org/>(GBI).
*Time*:* Friday, June 28th, 14:00-16:00 p.m * *Place*: *Room 3B217 * (building B, level 3, From the elevator take the long corridor to the right, to its end), on the VUB Campus Etterbeek (Pleinlaan 2, 1050 Brussels), Free entrance: everybody welcome! ------------------------------ Distributing Cognition: from Local Brains to the Global Brain *Clement Vidal * <http://clement.vidal.philosophons.com/>*(GBI,VUB)* Abstract: As humans, we create, use and refine tools. Doing so, we dramatically extend and enhance the variety and power of our senses, actions and information processing. The externalization of cognitive functions has produced major transitions in the history of culture. For example, the externalization of memory is the invention of writing, while the externalization of calculus is the invention of computing machines. Can we foresee other externalizations and their impact? What will the ongoing externalization of cognitive functions ultimately bring? Externalizing cognition first empowers the self, but also disruptively change society in a second stage, as the examples of writing or computers clearly show. What will the resulting hyperconnected society be like? We first focus on local externalizations, and argue that externalizing cognitive functions is a fundamental mechanism driving accelerating technological evolution. We discuss implications and applications of externalizing various cognitive functions such as memory, hearing, vision, computation, brainstorming, reasoning, orientation, emotions and actions. Secondly, we take a global picture, and argue that this progressive externalization helps to better understand, foresee and facilitate the emergence of a globally distributed intelligence, best conceptualized as a Global Brain. We take an even broader cosmic perspective and argue that even if the singularity is near, an energetic bottleneck is nearer. We discuss different symbioses between biology and machines, as well as the steps towards a possible transition to a global postbiological organization. ------------------------------ * Forthcoming ECCO/GBI seminars* *Summer 2013* * July 5 * *NO SEMINAR * *July 12 *Marie-Lise Schläppy <[email protected]> (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale Lausanne) Are all gifted people also highly sensitive? <http://ecco.vub.ac.be/?q=node/204> More info about the ECCO seminar program: http://ecco.vub.ac.be/?q=node/108 -- David R. Weinbaum (Weaver) ECCO/GBI Seminar Coordinator Email: [email protected] http://clea.academia.edu/DavidWeinbaum
