Editing Andy Clark

{{Short description|British philosopher}}
{{other people}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2017}}
{{Use British English|date=September 2017}}
{{Infobox philosopher
|region = [[Western philosophy]]
|era = [[21st-century philosophy]]
|name = Andy Clark 
|birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1957}}
|birth_place = 
|school_tradition = [[Analytic philosophy]]
|alma_mater = [[University of Stirling]]
|institutions = [[University of Sussex]]<br>[[University of Edinburgh]]<br>[[Glasgow University]]<br>[[Washington University in St. Louis]]<br>[[Indiana University, Bloomington]]
|main_interests = [[Philosophy of mind]]
|notable_ideas = [[Extended mind]]
}}

'''Andy Clark''', {{post-nominals|country=GBR|commas=on|FBA|size=100%}} (born 1957) is a [[British people|British]] [[philosopher]] who is Professor of Cognitive Philosophy at the [[University of Sussex]]. Prior to this, he was a professor of [[philosophy]] and [[Chair (official)|Chair]] in [[Logic]] and [[Metaphysics]] at the [[University of Edinburgh]] in [[Scotland]], director of the [[Cognitive Science]] Program at [[Indiana University Bloomington|Indiana University]] in [[Bloomington, Indiana]] and previously taught at [[Washington University in St. Louis]], Missouri. Clark is one of the founding members of the CONTACT collaborative research project whose aim is to investigate the role environment plays in shaping the nature of [[Consciousness|conscious experience]].<ref>{{Cite web |year=2006 |title=CONTACT - Consciousness in Interaction |url=http://linus.media.unisi.it/cirg/contact/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061013182832/http://linus.media.unisi.it/cirg/contact/ |archive-date=13 October 2006 |access-date=3 October 2011 |website=linus.media.unisi.it}}</ref> Clark's papers and books deal with the [[philosophy of mind]] and he is considered a leading scholar {{Citation needed|date=February 2020|reason=is there a reliable source for this?}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Chalmers |first=David |title=Supersizing the Mind [Foreword] |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2008 |isbn=9780199773688 |location=Oxford |pages=x |language=en}}</ref> on the subject of [[mind extension]]. He has also written extensively on [[connectionism]], [[robotics]] and the role and nature of [[mental representation]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-03-17 |title=Philosophy &#124; The University of Edinburgh |url=http://www.philosophy.ed.ac.uk/people/clark/publications.html |access-date=2020-05-25 |publisher=Philosophy.ed.ac.uk}}</ref>

== Philosophical work ==
Clark's work explores a number of disparate but interrelated themes. Many of these themes run against established [[wisdom]] in [[Cognition|cognitive]] processing and representation. According to traditional computational accounts, the function of the [[mind]] is understood as the process of creating, storing, and updating internal representations of the world, on the basis of which other processes and [[Action (philosophy)|actions]] may take place. Representations are updated to correspond with an environment in accordance with the function, goal-state, or desire of the system in question at any given time. Thus, for example, learning a new route through a maze-like building would be mirrored in a change in the representation of that building. Action, on this view, is the outcome of a process that determines the best way to achieve the goal-state or desire, based on current representations. Such a determinative process may be the purview of a [[Cartesian dualism|Cartesian]] "central executive" or a distributed process like homuncular decomposition.

In contrast to traditional models of [[cognition]], which often posit the one-way flow of sensory information from the periphery towards more remote areas of the [[brain]], Clark has suggested a two-way "cascade of cortical processing" underlying [[perception]], [[Action (philosophy)|action]], and [[learning]]. The concept of [[Generalized filtering#Relationship to Bayesian filtering and predictive coding|predictive processing]] lies at the heart of this view, wherein top-down predictions attempt to correctly guess or "explain away" bottom-up sensory information in an iterative, hierarchical manner. Discrepancies between the expected signal and actual signal, in essence, the "prediction error," travel upward to help refine the accuracy of future predictions. Interactions between forward flow of error (conveyed by "error units") and backward flow of prediction are dynamic, with attention playing a key role in weighting the relative influence of either at each level of the cascade (dopamine is mentioned as "one possible mechanism for encoding precision" with regard to error units). Action (or action-oriented predictive processing) also plays an important role in Clark's account as another means by which the brain can reduce prediction error by directly influencing the environment. To this, he adds that "[[Personality|personal]], [[affective]], and [[hedonic]]" factors would be implicated along with the minimization of prediction error, creating a more nuanced model for the relationship between action and perception.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Clark |first=Andy |date=2013-06-01 |title=Whatever next? Predictive brains, situated agents, and the future of cognitive science |journal=Behavioral and Brain Sciences |volume=36 |issue=3 |pages=181–204 |doi=10.1017/S0140525X12000477 |issn=1469-1825 |pmid=23663408 |doi-access=free}}</ref>

According to Clark, the [[Computational cognition|computational model]], which forms the philosophical foundation of [[artificial intelligence]], engenders several intractable problems. One of the more salient is an information [[bottleneck (software)|bottleneck]]: if, in order to determine appropriate actions, it is the job of the mind to construct detailed inner representations of the [[external world]], then, as the world is constantly [[Becoming (philosophy)|changing]], the demands on the mental [[system]] will almost certainly preclude any action taking place. For Clark, we need relatively little information about the world before we may act effectively upon it. We tend to be susceptible to "grand illusion", where our impressions of a richly detailed world obscure a reality of minimal environmental information and quick action. We needn't try to reconstruct the detail of this world, as it is able to serve as its own best model from which to extract information "[[Just-in-time learning|just in time]]".

Clark's writings also focus on the concept of [[transhumanism]], most prevalent in his work, ''Natural-Born Cyborgs'' which explores the progressing incorporation of human biology and technological implants. Through a series of contemporary technological studies and an evaluation of the [[cyborg]] figure in [[Cyborg#In popular culture|pop-culture]], Clark maps out a perception of the cyborg as a reality. This is not necessarily to show what humanity is to become from biologically implanted technology, but rather to explore where humanity is now with said technology.<ref name=":0" /> In his own words, humans are "creatures whose minds are special precisely because they are tailor-made for multiple mergers and coalitions."<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Clark |first=Andy |title=Natural-Born Cyborgs: Minds, Technologies, and the Future of Human Intelligence |publisher=Oxford University Press, Inc. |year=2004 |isbn=978-0195177510 |location=New York, New York |pages=1–7}}</ref> He elaborates this as he describes his body as an "electronic virgin" untouched by technology, but gradually over time technology will become intertwined with his biology.<ref name=":0" /> Whether that incorporation will be as mundane as the use of [[eyeglasses]] or something more advanced such as a new [[Cochlear implant|auditory prosthesis]], he believes the merger of technology and biology is inevitable and present.

=== Extended mind thesis ===
{{Main|Extended mind thesis}}
Clark is perhaps most well known for his work on the [[extended mind thesis]], which says that the mind extends into the environment. Clark spoke about his thesis in [[TEDxLambeth]] 2019.<ref>{{Cite web |title=TEDxLambeth {{!}} TED |url=https://www.ted.com/tedx/events/33524 |access-date=2020-08-14 |website=www.ted.com}}</ref>

==Personal life==
Clark lives in [[Brighton]], [[England]], with his partner, Alexa Morcom, a [[Cognitive neuroscience|cognitive neuroscientist]]. He has a tattoo of a comic book styled, undersea theme.<ref>{{Cite news |last=MacFarquhar |first=Larissa |date=2018-04-02 |title=The Mind-Expanding Ideas of Andy Clark |magazine=[[The New Yorker]] |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/04/02/the-mind-expanding-ideas-of-andy-clark |access-date=2018-03-28}}</ref>

== Bibliography ==
Books by Andy Clark:
* ''Microcognition: Philosophy, Cognitive Science and Parallel Distributed Processing'' (1989)
* ''Associative Engines: Connectionism, Concepts and Representational Change'' (1993)
* ''Being There: Putting Brain, Body and World Together Again'' (1997)
* ''Mindware: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Cognitive Science'' (2001)
* ''Natural-Born Cyborgs: Minds, Technologies, and the Future of Human Intelligence'' (2004)
* ''Supersizing the Mind: Embodiment, Action, and Cognitive Extension'' (2008)
* ''Surfing Uncertainty: Prediction, Action, and the Embodied Mind'' (2016)
* ''The Experience Machine: How Our Minds Predict and Shape Reality'' (2023)<ref>{{Cite web |last=Greenawalt |first=Marc |date=2022-12-02 |title=Spring 2023 Announcements: Science |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/new-titles/adult-announcements/article/91035-spring-2023-announcements-science.html |access-date=2022-12-14 |website=Publishers Weekly}}</ref>

Clark is also on the editorial boards of the following journals:
* ''[[Behavioral and Brain Sciences]]''
* ''[[Cognitive Science (journal)|Cognitive Science]]''
* ''Cognitive Science Quarterly''
* ''Connection Science''
* ''[[Minds and Machines]]''
* ''Philosophy and Society''
* ''Pragmatics and Cognition''

== References ==
{{reflist|30em}}

== External links ==
*[https://profiles.sussex.ac.uk/p493-andy-clark Andy Clark's profile at the University of Sussex]
*[http://www.philosophy.ed.ac.uk/staff/clark/publications.html Clark’s papers available online]
*[http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/clark/clark_index.html Excerpt from ''Natural Born Cyborgs'']
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20040603033116/http://blogger.iftf.org/Future/000421.html Interview with ''Future Now'']

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Clark, Andy}}
[[Category:1957 births]]
[[Category:20th-century British philosophers]]
[[Category:21st-century British philosophers]]
[[Category:Academics of the University of Edinburgh]]
[[Category:Academics of the University of Glasgow]]
[[Category:Academics of the University of Sussex]]
[[Category:Alumni of the University of Stirling]]
[[Category:Analytic philosophers]]
[[Category:British artificial intelligence researchers]]
[[Category:British transhumanists]]
[[Category:British consciousness researchers and theorists]]
[[Category:Fellows of the British Academy]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh]]
[[Category:British futurologists]]
[[Category:Indiana University Bloomington faculty]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:British philosophers of mind]]
[[Category:British philosophy academics]]
[[Category:Washington University in St. Louis faculty]]