Partners in Cognition: Extending Human Intelligence with Intelligent Technologies

Abstract

We examine how technologies, particularly computer technologies that aid in cognitive processing, can support intellectual performance and enrich individuals’ minds. We distinguish between effects with and of a technology: Effects with occur when people work in partnership with machines, whereas effects of occur when such partnerships have subsequent cognitive spin-off effects for learners working away from machines. It is argued that effects both with and of depend on the individual's mindful engagement in the partnership. Such mind-machine collaborations also invite reexamination of prevailing conceptions of intelligence and ability: Are they properties of the individual or of the joint system? We respond to these dilemmas by offering two views, one emphasizing mainly the upgraded performance in a person-machine system of partnership, the other emphasizing more the educationally valued cognitive residue that can result. The use of computer tools to extend the reach of minds is briefly discussed within wider normative, theoretical, and practical contexts.