Off-Loading Memory to the Environment: A Quantitative Example

Author: John Case

Source: Minds and Machines, Volume 14, Number 3, August 2004 , pp. 387-389(3)

Publisher: Springer

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Abstract:

R.W. Ashby maintained that people and animals do not have to remember as much as one might think since considerable information is stored in the environment. Presented herein is an everyday, quantitative example featuring calculation of the number bits of memory that can be off-loaded to the environment. The example involves one’s storing directions to a friend’s house. It is also argued that the example works with or without acceptance of the extended mind hypothesis. Additionally, a brief supporting argument for at least a form of this hypothesis is presented.

Keywords: bits; brain; environment; extended mind hypothesis; mathematics

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/B:MIND.0000035454.36558.55

Affiliations: 1: Department of Computer and Information Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716, USA; case@cis.udel.edu, Email: case@cis.udel.edu

Publication date: 2004-08-01