Clive ThompsonJan 12, 2023

After becoming a regular daily errands-and-commuting cyclist in NYC for a few years now, whenever I get in my car to go somewhere ...

... the sheer weight and size of the metal around me seems positively *sci fi*

I mean, cars?

They're basically MECHAS. Right?

A human inside

controlling this weirdly big-ass piece of exoskeletal steel

Show threadJacob HarrisJan 12, 2023
@clive There is a weird sensory melding after a little bit of driving where you basically start to feel the boundaries of the car automatically. If you nearly get into an accident you yell "You almost hit me!" and not "you almost hit my car!"
Show threadboojit

@harrisj @clive Yeah this is very true; I'd say even truer on a bicycle. It doesn't take long before the bicycle feels like an extension of your body.

Similar to the topic of video game immersion, where the controller "disappears." You're not thinking, "I will press this button and then that little mario avatar will jump." You're just thinking, "I'll jump".

I wonder how our brains got so good at this talent.

Jan 12, 2023 at 9:07pmWeb
Show threadBathsheba GrossmanJan 12, 2023
@boojit
Maybe as part of the wiring for tool use? Learning to use knife or hammer effectively, maybe even shoes and clothing, means accepting them as body parts.
Certainly extending that to bikes and cars (which are totally mecha!) seems extreme, but evolution can be weirdly economical, and I could believe that code was written for the very general case.
Show threadClive ThompsonJan 12, 2023

@bathsheba @boojit

yes, precisely

Show threadClive ThompsonJan 12, 2023

@boojit @harrisj

Yep, we are -- as the philosopher of the "extended mind" thesis, Andy Clark, would put it in his book of this title -- "Natural-Born Cyborgs"

Our brains love incorporating external tools and even entire environments into our cognitive apparatus

Show threadMartin Vermeer FCDJan 14, 2023
@clive @boojit @harrisj It also helps substitution of internal senses, like adapting hearing and touch to be used as a replacement vision in blind people.