New and emerging technologies called neuroprostheses are challenging our
ideas about where one's mind ends and the environment begins. Cochlear implants,
which completely replace the functioning of the inner ear, are now a common treatment
for deafness. Berger et al. (2012) developed a device that replaces long-term
memory in rats Berger et al. (2012), while Hampson et al. (2013) created a brainmachine
interface that converts a desire to move one's arm into the motor neuron
impulses required to achieve that movement Hampson et al. (2013)-both offering
promising treatments for dementia, Alzheimer's disease, and paralysis. Deep brain
stimulation is now a common way of regulating neural activity to manage muscle
tremors in patients with Parkinson's disease. These devices completely replace parts
of human anatomy we would normally consider to be performing cognitive processing.
Are these devices themselves part of the cognitive system or do they just facilitate it?
Are they parts of our minds or just sophisticated tools? More philosophically, these
are metaphysical questions about where the boundary between the mind and the environment
lies.
