196. Annie Murphy Paul — The Extended Mind: The Power of Thinking Outside the Brain

The Michael Shermer Show

Michael Shermer

Dialogue, Science, Reason, Michaelshermer, Natural Sciences, Skeptic

4.4 • 921 Ratings

🗓️ 31 July 2021

⏱️ 95 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this conversation about her new book, the acclaimed science writer Annie Murphy Paul explodes the myth that the brain is an all-powerful, all-purpose thinking machine that works best in silence and isolation. We are often told that the human brain is an awe-inspiring wonder, but its capacities are remarkably limited and specific. Humanity has achieved its most impressive feats only by thinking outside the brain: by “extending” the brain’s power with resources borrowed from the body, other people, and the material world. The Extended Mind tells the stories of scientists and artists, authors and inventors, leaders and entrepreneurs — Jackson Pollock, Charles Darwin, Jonas Salk, Friedrich Nietzsche, Watson and Crick, among others — who have mastered the art of thinking outside the brain. It also explains how every one of us can do the same, tapping the intelligence that exists beyond our heads — in our bodies, our surroundings, and our relationships.

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to the Michael Shurmer Show.
0:08.0	Welcome to the Michael Shurmer Show.
0:10.0	I'm your host Michael Shurmer.
0:12.0	My guest today is Annie Murphy Paul and her new book is The Extended Mind,
0:18.0	the Power of Thinking Outside the Brain. So Annie and I talk about concept of the brain and a vat which doesn't
0:26.6	exist because it's in a body and that embodied cognition makes a huge difference on
0:31.6	our thinking and our
0:33.0	intelligence, our reasoning.
0:34.4	We talk about reasoning and emotions.
0:37.3	Talk about intelligence and IQ tests,
0:39.8	consciousness and the mind and the brain.
0:43.0	Memory, synchrony, that is things like marching and dancing and singing and even eating together,
0:49.0	we tend to get into synchronous motion with other people.
0:53.4	Why is that?
0:54.8	Talk about the evolution of this embodied cognition,
0:57.7	this extended mind.
0:59.2	That's a product of the fact that we're physical beings
1:02.1	in a physical environment interacting with other
1:04.0	beings so we're social. Talk about interoception, interoception that is the
1:09.2	interstate of the brain and body how we are aware of our
1:13.0	interstate except for the brain you can't detect how the you don't detect the
1:17.2	brain working which leads all kinds of spooky beliefs like the
	...

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