18 April

Increasing numbers of researchers, including in cognitive science itself, are realising that ‘thinking’ is actually not something that happens in our heads. It’s a set of practical skills that extract constants and invariants from our experience, using tools. ‘Smart’ people are usually those who are good at extracting these invariants, in seeing patterns in things, that’s all. Most of our classification of intelligence actually measures aptitude with using certain tools, like writing and reading. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/04/02/the-mind-expanding-ideas-of-andy-clark