Lecture 1 Summary
Ubiquitous Computing, IoT, and the Extended Mind
Is technology making us smarter or more stupid?
The lecture argues this is the wrong framing → the better question is how humans
and technology co-evolve as a coupled system.
Lecture slides
Technology and Human Development
McLuhan: _"First we build our tools, then our tools build us."_
Four industrial revolutions have impacted human development:
1. Mechanization, water and steam power
2. Mass production, assembly lines and electricity
3. Computers and automation
4. Cyber-physical systems
The effect of resulting tools and innovations can be seen in various ways:
The MacCready explosion refers to the dramatic increase of human population (plus
livestock and pets) at the expense of naturally occurring/wild terrestrial vertebrates.
The Flynn Effect supports an optimistic reading: IQ scores have risen over generations,
likely because modernization demands more abstract thinking. Technology and
intelligence co-evolve — a bootstrapping process where smarter tools produce smarter
users who build better tools.
Over five decades, computers became smaller, faster, cheaper, networked, and context-
aware.
Moore's Law states that the number of transistors on microchips doubles every two years
Computing has gone through three waves (Alan Kay):
1. mainframe (one computer, many people)
2. PC (one person, one computer)
3. ubiquitous computing (one person, many computers).
The Epistemic Action Framework
, Pragmatic actions → moving physically toward a goal
Epistemic actions → acting to uncover hidden information or simplify a mental task
The Tetris example (Kirsh & Maglio, 1994) shows players rotate pieces not to improve
board position directly, but to simplify the cognitive problem — offloading computation
onto the environment.
Mechanism underlying cognitive offloading, transactive memory, and extended mind
The brain is opportunistic and exploits the environment to reduce internal
computational load.
2. Weiser (1991) — Ubiquitous Computing
Weiser's foundational argument is that the most profound technologies disappear.
Writing is the example: so embedded in daily life that we no longer notice it.
Ubiquitous computing aims for the same invisibility (e.g., hundreds of embedded
computers that people use unconsciously to accomplish everyday tasks).
Key ideas:
Computers should fit the human world, not force humans to adapt to the computer's
world (contrast with virtual reality, which pulls people into the machine)
Three form factors: tabs (inch-scale), pads (page-scale), boards (yard-scale)
"Disappearance is a consequence of human psychology afforded by the
technology" — when people learn something well enough, they stop being aware of it
The concept of calm technology: moves easily between periphery and centre of
attention, enhancing peripheral reach without demanding focus
This vision is now recognizable as the Internet of Things — ubicomp realized through
interconnected everyday objects.
3. Carr (2008) — Is Google Making Us Stupid?
Main argument: the internet is rewiring neural circuits, replacing deep, sustained reading
with shallow, distracted skimming.
Key points:
The internet trains us toward "power browsing": horizontal movement across
sources rather than vertical depth in any one
Brain plasticity means media shapes cognition at a biological level, not just
behaviorally. Just as the clock reshaped how people think about time, the net
reshapes how we process information
Ubiquitous Computing, IoT, and the Extended Mind
Is technology making us smarter or more stupid?
The lecture argues this is the wrong framing → the better question is how humans
and technology co-evolve as a coupled system.
Lecture slides
Technology and Human Development
McLuhan: _"First we build our tools, then our tools build us."_
Four industrial revolutions have impacted human development:
1. Mechanization, water and steam power
2. Mass production, assembly lines and electricity
3. Computers and automation
4. Cyber-physical systems
The effect of resulting tools and innovations can be seen in various ways:
The MacCready explosion refers to the dramatic increase of human population (plus
livestock and pets) at the expense of naturally occurring/wild terrestrial vertebrates.
The Flynn Effect supports an optimistic reading: IQ scores have risen over generations,
likely because modernization demands more abstract thinking. Technology and
intelligence co-evolve — a bootstrapping process where smarter tools produce smarter
users who build better tools.
Over five decades, computers became smaller, faster, cheaper, networked, and context-
aware.
Moore's Law states that the number of transistors on microchips doubles every two years
Computing has gone through three waves (Alan Kay):
1. mainframe (one computer, many people)
2. PC (one person, one computer)
3. ubiquitous computing (one person, many computers).
The Epistemic Action Framework
, Pragmatic actions → moving physically toward a goal
Epistemic actions → acting to uncover hidden information or simplify a mental task
The Tetris example (Kirsh & Maglio, 1994) shows players rotate pieces not to improve
board position directly, but to simplify the cognitive problem — offloading computation
onto the environment.
Mechanism underlying cognitive offloading, transactive memory, and extended mind
The brain is opportunistic and exploits the environment to reduce internal
computational load.
2. Weiser (1991) — Ubiquitous Computing
Weiser's foundational argument is that the most profound technologies disappear.
Writing is the example: so embedded in daily life that we no longer notice it.
Ubiquitous computing aims for the same invisibility (e.g., hundreds of embedded
computers that people use unconsciously to accomplish everyday tasks).
Key ideas:
Computers should fit the human world, not force humans to adapt to the computer's
world (contrast with virtual reality, which pulls people into the machine)
Three form factors: tabs (inch-scale), pads (page-scale), boards (yard-scale)
"Disappearance is a consequence of human psychology afforded by the
technology" — when people learn something well enough, they stop being aware of it
The concept of calm technology: moves easily between periphery and centre of
attention, enhancing peripheral reach without demanding focus
This vision is now recognizable as the Internet of Things — ubicomp realized through
interconnected everyday objects.
3. Carr (2008) — Is Google Making Us Stupid?
Main argument: the internet is rewiring neural circuits, replacing deep, sustained reading
with shallow, distracted skimming.
Key points:
The internet trains us toward "power browsing": horizontal movement across
sources rather than vertical depth in any one
Brain plasticity means media shapes cognition at a biological level, not just
behaviorally. Just as the clock reshaped how people think about time, the net
reshapes how we process information
