Difference between revisions of "Extended Nervous System"

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[[Image:extended-nervous-system-Maggie-Nichols.jpg|center|600px]]
 
===Definition===
 
===Definition===
The extension of perception and sensory feedback outside the physical body.  
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Extended Nervous System is a term used to describe the extension of perception and sensory feedback outside the physical body. The extended nervous system does not just relate to the extension of the physical self, but the extension of the mental self as well.
  
====Physical Extensions====
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"At a fundamental level, physiological computing represents an extension of the human nervous system",<ref>Fairclough, Steve. The Extended Nervous System. Physiological Computing: where brain and body drive technology. Published 6th January 2010. Accessed Oct 2011. http://www.physiologicalcomputing.net/?p=291</ref> writes Steve Fairclough. "This is nothing new. Our history is littered with tools and artifacts, from the plough to the internet, designed to extend the ‘reach’ of human senses capabilities. As our technology becomes more compact, we become increasingly reliant on tools to augment our cognitive capacity".<ref>Ibid.</ref>
For instance, one's perception changes when entering a vehicle by extending from the edges of the self to the edges of the vehicle. "The car [is thus an] extension of the foot instead of the car as a satellite part of the home: or the tendency for appliances to impose their presence as against the psychological need for 'cosy' or 'friendly' objects"<ref>[[Comments and Excerpts from Urban Structure|Elek]] 1968: 127).</ref>  
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====Digital Extensions====
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Those who run host websites on servers are not running machines. Rather, they are maintaining a symbiotic organism of machine and person, stitched together by source code. Those who maintain web systems have extended nervous systems that encompass those servers. When a website goes down, one's physiology is affected. The heart-rate increases, adrenaline flows into the body, and the server administrator gains the required mindset to rush into triage and reinstate the system.  
One who runs a server and hosts websites has a nervous system that extends to those sites. When the site goes down, they may be physiologically affected. They are running an organism. Google Analytics is a sensing network that acts as an extended nervous system detecting clicks on the extension of one's identity. Emotional circuits give us pleasure. That we construct things in the world that help us do this, including social networks.  
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The realm of the cell phone is a place that may be heard, and only liminally lived in. Augé defines the idea of the communication network as one that lies on the plane of extraterrestrial space.<ref>Augé, Marc. Non-Places: Introduction to an Anthropology of Supermodernity. 1995. Pg. 79.</ref> Thus the cell phone is a liminal extra-terrestrial space, or a space that is actually a place removed from place (the isolation of urban reality) that can be accessed simply by logging onto the Actor Network of cell phone users. It is natural that so many disconnected individuals would so quickly adopt a technology that allows them some semblance of former society, even though it is mediated by technology and a payment plan.
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One's extended nervous system also applies to characters in fictional works. In very well-written books, the reader can feel the triumphs and battles of the characters as if they were their own. Social networks are a natural extension of the social and mental self. Each user extends part of their identity into virtual space, and when that extended self is accessed, a feedback loop occurs. Getting a comment on a blog post or piece of writing becomes the psychological equivalent of receiving a comment in real life.
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This mental and physical engagement extends to those who engage in technological interaction as well. When one enters a vehicle, their perception and sense of self automatically extends to the edges of the vehicle. The vehicle's edges are an extension of the self, and a the vehicle itself is an extension of the foot <ref>Paul Elek, Paul. Comments and Excerpts from Urban Structure. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York. 1968. Pg. 127.</ref>
  
 
===Related Reading===
 
===Related Reading===
[[Cyborg Security]]
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*[[Cyborg Security]]
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*[[Boundary Maintenance]]
  
 
==References==
 
==References==
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Latest revision as of 04:27, 28 December 2011

Extended-nervous-system-Maggie-Nichols.jpg

Definition

Extended Nervous System is a term used to describe the extension of perception and sensory feedback outside the physical body. The extended nervous system does not just relate to the extension of the physical self, but the extension of the mental self as well.

"At a fundamental level, physiological computing represents an extension of the human nervous system",[1] writes Steve Fairclough. "This is nothing new. Our history is littered with tools and artifacts, from the plough to the internet, designed to extend the ‘reach’ of human senses capabilities. As our technology becomes more compact, we become increasingly reliant on tools to augment our cognitive capacity".[2]

Those who run host websites on servers are not running machines. Rather, they are maintaining a symbiotic organism of machine and person, stitched together by source code. Those who maintain web systems have extended nervous systems that encompass those servers. When a website goes down, one's physiology is affected. The heart-rate increases, adrenaline flows into the body, and the server administrator gains the required mindset to rush into triage and reinstate the system.

One's extended nervous system also applies to characters in fictional works. In very well-written books, the reader can feel the triumphs and battles of the characters as if they were their own. Social networks are a natural extension of the social and mental self. Each user extends part of their identity into virtual space, and when that extended self is accessed, a feedback loop occurs. Getting a comment on a blog post or piece of writing becomes the psychological equivalent of receiving a comment in real life.

This mental and physical engagement extends to those who engage in technological interaction as well. When one enters a vehicle, their perception and sense of self automatically extends to the edges of the vehicle. The vehicle's edges are an extension of the self, and a the vehicle itself is an extension of the foot [3]

Related Reading

References

  1. Fairclough, Steve. The Extended Nervous System. Physiological Computing: where brain and body drive technology. Published 6th January 2010. Accessed Oct 2011. http://www.physiologicalcomputing.net/?p=291
  2. Ibid.
  3. Paul Elek, Paul. Comments and Excerpts from Urban Structure. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York. 1968. Pg. 127.