Howard Rheingold sez, “I have been interested in mind amplifiers since I wrote my 1968 Reed College thesis on brain biofeedback and the future of consciousness. This short e-book contains all kinds of goodies I’ve always wanted to put in my books — embedded videos, rollover definitions. And I’ve been wanting to connect the dots between McLuhan, Engelbart, Illich, and Ostrom. I’m using this 60 page ebook as a text for a course on Think-Know Tools. Here is the blurb on the TED books site:”
Instead of asking whether the Web is making us stupid, Howard Rheingold turns that question around and asks how designing and using digital media mindfully could make us smarter. What if humans could build tools that leverage our ability to think, communicate, and cooperate? Humans invented social learning, speech, writing, alphabets, printing, computers, and the Internet, which means we should be systematically directing the evolution of intellectual augmentation. Mind Amplifier: Can Our Digital Tools Make Us Smarter? examines the origins of digital mind-extending tools, and then lays out the foundations for their future. Rheingold proposes an applied, interdisciplinary science of mind amplification. He also unveils a new protocol for developing techno-cognitive-social technologies that embrace empathy, mindfulness, and compassion — elements lacking from existing digital mind-tools.
