Uploaded January 2020 | Updated September 2026, 5 minutes ago
I Love my iPhone: The Extended Body in Cyberspace with Elizabeth Èowyn Nelson, PhD
Augmented intelligence, a symbiosis of human and machine cognition, decisively shapes our self-concept and well-being, for better and for worse. Consider, for instance, the number of people who report “phantom limb syndrome” when they are deprived of their smartphone or who are incapable of navigating city streets unless Siri coaches them step-by-step. Since digital tools can literally accompany us everywhere, many people spend more time with their tech than they do with loved ones, and signify this intimacy through personalizing as well as personifying their devices. The psychological implications are profound, particularly if we agree with Marshal McLuhan who, in 1964, warned us to regard any technology as an active shaping process, affecting our lives not through the content it delivers but in how it influences daily habits, practices, desires, and patterns of thought. Is it even possible to imagine the power of a technology that is like another limb?
I Love my iPhone: The Extended Body in Cyberspace with Elizabeth Èowyn Nelson, PhD
Augmented intelligence, a symbiosis of human and machine cognition, decisively shapes our self-concept and well-being, for better and for worse. Consider, for instance, the number of people who report “phantom limb syndrome” when they are deprived of their smartphone or who are incapable of navigating city streets unless Siri coaches them step-by-step. Since digital tools can literally accompany us everywhere, many people spend more time with their tech than they do with loved ones, and signify this intimacy through personalizing as well as personifying their devices. The psychological implications are profound, particularly if we agree with Marshal McLuhan who, in 1964, warned us to regard any technology as an active shaping process, affecting our lives not through the content it delivers but in how it influences daily habits, practices, desires, and patterns of thought. Is it even possible to imagine the power of a technology that is like another limb?
