Minds in the matrix: embodied cognition and virtual reality
Minds in the matrix: embodied cognition and virtual reality
The present chapter discusses the implications of virtual reality for the theory and practice of embodied cognitive science. The chapter discusses how recent technological innovations are poised to reshape our understanding of the materially-embodied and environmentally-situated mind, providing us with a new means of studying the mechanisms responsible for intelligent behavior. The chapter also discusses how a synthetically-oriented shift in our approach to embodied intelligence alters our view of familiar problems, most notably the distinction between embedded and extended cognition. The chapter concludes by challenging the idea that virtual worlds ought to be seen as nothing more than a scientific ‘sandpit’ for the study of the embodied mind. Some forms of embodied intelligence can, I suggest, exist solely in virtual reality. In this sense, the ‘Matrix’ is not just a means of testing ideas about the forms of embodied intelligence that inhabit our own physical reality; it is also a means of creating entirely new forms of embodied intelligence. It is by building virtual worlds that we open the door to a new reality—one that is home to a potentially infinite variety of embodied, embedded, and perhaps even extended beings.
Embodied Cognition, Virtual Reality, Extended Cognition, Metaverse, Constitutive Relevance, Mechanism, Computer Games, Virtual Robots
Smart, Paul
cd8a3dbf-d963-4009-80fb-76ecc93579df
Smart, Paul
cd8a3dbf-d963-4009-80fb-76ecc93579df
Smart, Paul
(2023)
Minds in the matrix: embodied cognition and virtual reality.
In,
Shapiro, Lawrence and Spaulding, Shannon
(eds.)
The Routledge Handbook of Embodied Cognition.
2 ed.
New York, USA.
Routledge.
(In Press)
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Book Section
Abstract
The present chapter discusses the implications of virtual reality for the theory and practice of embodied cognitive science. The chapter discusses how recent technological innovations are poised to reshape our understanding of the materially-embodied and environmentally-situated mind, providing us with a new means of studying the mechanisms responsible for intelligent behavior. The chapter also discusses how a synthetically-oriented shift in our approach to embodied intelligence alters our view of familiar problems, most notably the distinction between embedded and extended cognition. The chapter concludes by challenging the idea that virtual worlds ought to be seen as nothing more than a scientific ‘sandpit’ for the study of the embodied mind. Some forms of embodied intelligence can, I suggest, exist solely in virtual reality. In this sense, the ‘Matrix’ is not just a means of testing ideas about the forms of embodied intelligence that inhabit our own physical reality; it is also a means of creating entirely new forms of embodied intelligence. It is by building virtual worlds that we open the door to a new reality—one that is home to a potentially infinite variety of embodied, embedded, and perhaps even extended beings.
Text
Minds in the Matrix
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Accepted/In Press date: 28 August 2023
Keywords:
Embodied Cognition, Virtual Reality, Extended Cognition, Metaverse, Constitutive Relevance, Mechanism, Computer Games, Virtual Robots
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 481822
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/481822
PURE UUID: 5f7bc952-ce4b-473e-9fe4-23903552d255
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Date deposited: 08 Sep 2023 16:57
Last modified: 18 Mar 2024 02:56
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Contributors
Author:
Paul Smart
Editor:
Lawrence Shapiro
Editor:
Shannon Spaulding
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