Intelligence, Artificial and Otherwise: A Reflection on Extended Cognition, ChatGPT, and Neurodivergence

Hi, welcome to the Last Word, the weekly essay by members of our editing staff! Here’s my contribution.

Go to ChatGPT and type this in: Please write an editorial for a Seventh-day Adventist university newspaper about embodied and

extended cognition, ChatGPT, and neurodivergence.

Then read that.

The end.

Kidding!!! But wouldn’t that be interesting if I had actually done that?

Although I’m not quite as audacious as my opener would lead you to believe, this article still is an experiment in three ways. I’ll tell you the ways as we go along together.

I’m involved in a lot of the writing that happens on the Andrews University campus. I have worked as Copy Editor for the Student Movement for three years, which means I have been involved in editing every single article we have published in the past three years. I also work in the Writing Center and help coach writers to improve their writing. I also do some freelance editing of resumes, cover letters, and important documents. You know that saying, “Those who can’t, teach?” Well, take it from me, those who can’t write can definitely edit and coach. Okay, okay, I can write—one of my majors is English literature and I do write a lot of papers—but I don’t necessarily seek out opportunities to write things. If I have a choice between a creative project or an analytical paper, believe me, I’d sooner be meticulously creating and justifying Spotify playlists for characters in some 20th century novel than making an outline, collecting evidence, assembling my arguments, putting it all together, doing peer reviews, professor conferences, proofreading, editing, ahhh!! But now I have to write this Last Word. Or do I…

A big cause of my struggles with writing comes down to the fact that I have been diagnosed with ADHD—attention deficit disorder and hyperactivity. This means a lot of things for me.  For one, just to set the scene, sometimes, for my mind to be distracted enough to focus (those who get it get it), such as the way I’m trying to make it right now as I write, I need to be with another human  (physical or virtual), and have a playlist of not too soft, not too loud music, some ASMR, and some brown noise playing all at once, at a medium volume, in headphones. Open those tabs, play the sounds, try it for yourself! I can jump between conversation topics, general vibes, and skills faster than you can say squirrel.  I can make insightful connections between seemingly unrelated topics, construct complicated arguments, engage with layered theories, weave together evidence,  analyze details that others don’t even notice—I love all these traits of my mind.

However, these funky mental traits of mine aren’t all sunshine and squirrels. Many of the ways academic papers are typically created don’t fit my patterns of thought or methods of creation well. Further, I am unwilling to completely change the way I structure my own thoughts or my creative process simply to produce papers in what I perceive to be conventional ways. I also doubt that this mental surrender is possible or would be a positive change. Further, if I have a large, stressful project or paper looming, such as writing this editorial, even though I recognize the importance and have calculated the impact on my grades or job, I quite literally physically and mentally cannot begin the work until I am ready. And I don’t have all that much control on when that is. And when I begin working, if I end up disengaged, pulling my focus back often seems insurmountable. Having ADHD doesn’t necessarily mean that I have a deficit in focus, I just don’t have the ability to regulate my focus. It’s like I'm looking through binoculars but someone else is aiming them, and that person doesn’t care about my due dates and GPA. The person is also juggling. While riding a unicycle. And playing the bagpipes. Blindfolded. You get the picture.

However, once I am able to focus on the project, once I hit that magic hyperfocus, I can accomplish weeks of work in a matter of hours. Hours during which, to the untrained eye, I may appear to be not remotely sane—but hey, the work gets done. I do it. The process is the interesting part. These patterns of thought, which make me who I am, are not conducive to creating the content, or the time frame, with the methods that are often expected of me. So what can I do?

You know the feeling of when you learn a concept and it changes your whole worldview? Well, last semester, I took an Honors elective class called Cognitive Science and Faith, taught by the illustrious Dr. Karl G. D. Bailey. We learned about the concept of embodied cognition, among other things. Embodied cognition, explained¹ simply, is “a theoretical approach to understanding human cognition that emphasizes the role of the body and its interactions with the environment in shaping our thinking, perception, and action. The basic idea is that our cognitive processes are not just carried out in the brain, but are deeply intertwined with the physical and sensory experiences of the body.” Instead of our brains being the juicy jelly-bean-ish-shaped place where all our thoughts are produced, alternatively, our bodies are part of our ‘minds.’

Beyond this recognition of the role of the body in the body + brain collaboration that creates the ‘mind,’ cognitive scientists also explore the concept of extended cognition. As researchers Warren S. Brown and Brad D. Strawn found, “intelligent mental processes often include things outside the brain and body, involving interactions with other persons or external artifacts that significantly enhance cognitive capacities.” So instead of my ‘mind’ just being my brain, or even my mind being just my brain +  my body, what I think of as my ‘mind’ also incorporates tools and the ‘minds’ of other people. Think of when you use your notes app or an old-school pen and paper to write a reminder to yourself. Your own brain no longer has to carry the cognitive load of remembering whatever it was you wrote down, because you have extended your cognition to include the note. Think also² of a calculator—an external tool that extends our cognitive abilities beyond what our brain is capable of doing on its own.

But in this day and age, our tools aren’t just pens, papers, and calculators. And our social connections aren’t just in-person conversations with friends. Brown and Strawn, the researchers who study cognitive extension, also point out, “while intelligence was once thought to be an attribute of a single individual’s brain, it is now understood to extend into processes outside the person within immediate interactive space.” So intelligence, it would seem, isn’t just how well you can think in your own brain. Intelligence also incorporates how well you can use tools and social connections.2 When we incorporate new tools into our processes of mind, we’ve expanded the available resources that our brain can use. And just as when people get new resources, they consider new solutions, extending your cognition to involve new tools means that we can solve tasks in ways that one brain by itself could never. So I suppose it makes sense that the more devices and objects there are available to foster better ways of thinking, the better!

I bet you can guess where I’m heading with this! ChatGPT!

Recently, there has been an immense rise in popularity and common usage of tools like ChatGPT and other large language models, which use natural language processing and machine learning algorithms to understand and respond to questions. You have a question? Ask away! Need an essay? Want a recipe? Lesson plan? Cover letter? Breakup text? What you desire is a few typed words and pressed enter key away from being yours. In light of these new tools available to us, and in light of the research that informs us that our minds involve our bodies, tools, and social connections, it seems that if I struggle with my writing process, and maybe you struggle with forming arguments, and perhaps your friend struggles with remembering things, we should all go drop out of college, forget anything we’ve learned, any skill we’ve developed: ChatGPT is my—no, our—new brain!

But wait! Ethics! Copyright laws! Robot overlords! There are many ethical and privacy concerns with the use of these large language models, let alone the plagiarism concerns and philosophical rabbit holes that still remain largely uncharted territory. Human history and my personal experience with any new piece of technology teaches that the use of a new tool requires careful, deliberate, well informed research and an evolving, attentive mindset. The arrival of these tools perhaps doesn’t signal the end of society as we know it. Hmm, this paragraph isn’t as well thought out as it could be. What resources can I use to improve it? I can sit and think about how to improve and add to my arguments. But with my brain, I’ll likely end up on a Wikipedia spiral learning more about that one war Australia lost against emus. Yes, the bird. Maybe I could contact a theologian friend to outline the spiritual concerns with using AI. I’ve got friends who study computers and even friends who study artificial intelligence! I could ask them. My primary major is anthropology, the study of what it means to be human. I could ask my professors to help me list some challenges and add some nuance to my enthusiasm for the potential of ChatGPT. Or, I could ask another source³…

“While ChatGPT and other similar language models have made significant advancements in natural language processing and understanding, there are still some challenges associated with using these models. Some of these challenges include:

1. Bias and Fairness: Like all machine learning models, ChatGPT can be susceptible to bias and unfairness in the data that it was trained on. This can result in problematic outputs that perpetuate stereotypes, discrimination, and other forms of harm.
2. Accuracy and Consistency: While ChatGPT is generally accurate and consistent, there are still some cases where it may provide inaccurate or inconsistent responses, particularly if the input is ambiguous or if the model has not been trained on a particular topic.
3. Ethical Concerns: There are ethical concerns associated with the use of ChatGPT and other language models, particularly around issues such as privacy, security, and the potential for misuse.
4. Limited Contextual Understanding: While ChatGPT has made significant strides in understanding natural language, it still has limitations in its ability to understand context and interpret non-literal language, such as sarcasm or irony.
5. Dependence on Training Data: ChatGPT's performance is dependent on the quality and quantity of training data it has been exposed to. If the data is limited, biased or inaccurate, the model may not perform well, and it may be difficult to generate high-quality responses.Overall, while ChatGPT has the potential to be a powerful tool, there are still some challenges that need to be addressed in order to ensure its effective and ethical use.”

There we go—an improved paragraph about the cons of dependence on ChatGPT. 

Clearly, there are pros and cons to these new tools that we can incorporate into our cognition. But when I consider that perhaps my intelligence—or in this specific case, my ability to write—isn’t just my ability to come up with and organize my own ideas, I am filled with hope. Because of the time period I exist in, my writing ability also depends on how well I can use the tools at my disposal, how well I can fulfill the full potential of what my cognition can extend to incorporate. My challenges aren’t the end of the story.

I’m curious, how do you think? I love asking people this question, and watching the space between their eyebrows as they answer. People often look up while they answer this question, I’ve found; I wonder if you’ll find that out too if you ask people. Do you think in images? Fully formed sentences? What language do you think in? Do you not really consciously think at all? I’m sure the answers to these questions all depend on the context and topic of the thoughts. What tasks are you good at because of your mental patterns? What do you find challenging? Knowing about embodied cognition, extended cognition, and the potentials of ChatGPT, will you ameliorate your mental processes?

I used the tool of ChatGPT for the first time on Tuesday. It’s now Wednesday, and I’ve used the tool to significantly impact and contribute to the creation of this piece of writing. Here’s one of the experimental aspects of this essay—I used ChatGPT! When I got stuck, instead of disengaging, I asked the question or topic I was stuck on to ChatGPT, and then used the direction it gave me to move forward.  Here’s a quick key to the moments I used ChatGPT, with the reason why: at superscript 1,  I couldn't think of a way to describe this concept simply, nor could I remember the most important components, so I asked ChatGPT “can you explain embodied cognition?”, and then quoted the answer it gave me. At superscript 2, I couldn’t think of another example of cognitive extension, so I asked ChatGPT “what's an example of cognitive extension?” and was given several examples. And the most obvious is at superscript 3, where I asked ChatGPT “what are some challenges to using ChatGPT?” Humans ask questions, humans answer them. Humans create and use tools. I asked a question and got an answer. I used a tool. Doing this felt so surreal—doing this felt so human.

Tldr: using tools can help your thinking