Chris Abel. The Extended Self: Architecture, Memes and Minds

Review of: Abel, C. (2014). The extended self: Architecture, memes and minds. Manchester University Pres

Varieties of the extended self

This article provides an overview and analysis of recent work on the extended self, demonstrating that the boundaries of selves are fluid, shifting across biological, artifactual, and sociocultural structures. First, it distinguishes the notions of minimal self, person, and narrative self. Second, it surveys how philosophers, psychologists, and cognitive scientists argue that embodiment, cognition, emotion, consciousness, and moral character traits can be extended and what that implies for the boundaries of selves. It also reviews and responds to various criticisms and counterarguments against the extended self. The main focus is on the link between the extended mind and extended self, which has received the most attention in recent literature. But accounts of the extended self developed independently of the extended mind are also briefly discussed. This article ends by drawing out some of the conceptual, methodological, and normative implications of the extended self and suggesting some directions for future research

Extended self-similarity of the small-scale cosmic microwave background anisotropy

The Extended Self-Similarity (ESS) of cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation has been studied using recent data obtained by the space-craft based Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe. Using the ESS and the high angular scale resolution (arcminutes) of the data it is shown that the CMB temperature space {\it increments} exhibit considerable and systematic declination from Gaussianity for high order moments at the small angular scales. Moreover, the CMB space increment ESS exponents have remarkably close values to the ESS exponents observed in turbulence (in magnetohydrodynamic turbulence)

Sign-symmetry of temperature structure functions

New scalar structure functions with different sign-symmetry properties are defined. These structure functions possess different scaling exponents even when their order is the same. Their scaling properties are investigated for second and third orders, using data from high-Reynolds-number atmospheric boundary layer. It is only when structure functions with disparate sign-symmetry properties are compared can the extended self-similarity detect two different scaling ranges that may exist, as in the example of convective turbulence.Comment: 18 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in Physical Review

Training Prospective Abilities through Conversation about the Extended Self

Prospection is an important cognitive achievement, and isrelated to uniquely human abilities such as planning, delay ofgratification, and goal attainment. While prospection developsrapidly during early childhood, little is known about themechanisms that support its development. Here we exploredwhether encouraging children to talk about their extendedselves (self outside the present context) boosts theirprospective abilities. Preschoolers (N = 81) participated in a5-minute interaction with an adult in which they were askedto talk about events in the near future, distant future, nearpast, or present. Compared with children discussing theirpresent and distant future, children asked to discuss events intheir near future or near past displayed better planning andprospective memory. Additionally, those two conditions weremost effective in eliciting self-projection (use of personalpronouns). Results suggest that experience communicatingabout the close-in-time, extended self contributes tochildren’s future-oriented thinking

Identification of Separation Wavenumber between Weak and Strong Turbulence Spectra for Vibrating Plate

A weakly nonlinear spectrum and a strongly nonlinear spectrum coexist in a statistically steady state of elastic wave turbulence. The analytical representation of the nonlinear frequency is obtained by evaluating the extended self-nonlinear interactions. The {\em critical\/} wavenumbers at which the nonlinear frequencies are comparable with the linear frequencies agree with the {\em separation\/} wavenumbers between the weak and strong turbulence spectra. We also confirm the validity of our analytical representation of the separation wavenumbers through comparison with the results of direct numerical simulations by changing the material parameters of a vibrating plate

Multiscaling in Hall-Magnetohydrodynamic Turbulence: Insights from a Shell Model

We show that a shell-model version of the three-dimensional Hall-magnetohydrodynamic (3D Hall-MHD) equations provides a natural theoretical model for investigating the multiscaling behaviors of velocity and magnetic structure functions. We carry out extensive numerical studies of this shell model, obtain the scaling exponents for its structure functions, in both the low-$k$ and high-$k$ power-law ranges of 3D Hall-MHD, and find that the extended-self-similarity (ESS) procedure is helpful in extracting the multiscaling nature of structure functions in the high-$k$ regime, which otherwise appears to display simple scaling. Our results shed light on intriguing solar-wind measurements.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figure