Discussion: "Where do you keep your mind?"

"Where does the mind stop and the rest of the world begin?" Does our mind stop at the skull, like the brain? Or does it extend outward into notebooks, post-its, gadgets, and perhaps even other people?

In this session of Marginal Thoughts, we will explore how far our minds extend. Before the - hopefully mind-expanding - discussion, we will engage with the “Extended Mind Thesis” through a short interview with one of its proponents and a short story that exemplifies the idea:

• Video interview with Andy Clark, one of the proponents of the "Extended Mind" (~13 min)
• Short story by Jonathan Nolan: "Memento Mori" (~25 min; alternatively available as an audio version read by author)

Here Clark suggests that destroying someone’s notes might amount to more than mere property damage, whereas Nolan’s protagonist uses notes precisely to commit more than mere property damage.

How to prepare
Watching the short interview and reading the story would be the minimal preparation. Some optional material is listed below.
As you engage with the material, try to identify at least one point of curiosity, confusion, or uncertainty - these will be natural starting points for our discussion.

What to expect
This is an in-person, conversational meetup in English. The goal isn't to debate or lecture - it’s to explore ideas and leave with better questions than we arrived with.

Optional stuff for the extra curious
The interview with Andy Clark comes from a longer video which also features David Chalmers, co-author of the original paper proposing the "Extended Mind Thesis".

And given the topic of the session and the name of this Meetup group, it would be an omission not to mention the poem "Marginalia" by Billy Collins (here read by the author).