# Andy Clark

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{{Short description|British philosopher (born 1957)}}
{{Other people}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2017}}
{{Use British English|date=September 2017}}
{{Infobox philosopher
|region = [Western philosophy](/source/Western_philosophy)
|era = [21st-century philosophy](/source/21st-century_philosophy)
|name = Andy Clark 
|birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1957}}
|birth_place = 
|school_tradition = [Analytic philosophy](/source/Analytic_philosophy)
|alma_mater = [University of Stirling](/source/University_of_Stirling)
|institutions = [University of Sussex](/source/University_of_Sussex)<br>[University of Edinburgh](/source/University_of_Edinburgh)<br>[Indiana University Bloomington](/source/Indiana_University_Bloomington)<br>[Washington University in St. Louis](/source/Washington_University_in_St._Louis)
|main_interests = [Philosophy of mind](/source/Philosophy_of_mind)
|notable_ideas = [Extended mind](/source/Extended_mind)
}}

'''Andy Clark''' (born 1957) is a British [philosopher](/source/philosopher). He is professor of [cognitive](/source/cognitive) [philosophy](/source/philosophy) at the [University of Sussex](/source/University_of_Sussex). Prior to this, he was a professor of [philosophy](/source/philosophy) and [chair](/source/Chair_(official)) in [logic](/source/logic) and [metaphysics](/source/metaphysics) at the [University of Edinburgh](/source/University_of_Edinburgh), director of the [cognitive science](/source/cognitive_science) program at [Indiana University Bloomington](/source/Indiana_University_Bloomington), and rhetorical director of the [philosophy-psychology-neuroscience](/source/Arts_and_Sciences_at_Washington_University_in_St._Louis) program at [Washington University in St. Louis](/source/Washington_University_in_St._Louis). 

Clark is one of the founding members of the CONTACT collaborative research project, whose aim is to investigate the role environment plays in shaping the nature of [conscious experience](/source/Consciousness).<ref>{{Cite web |year=2006 |title=CONTACT - Consciousness in Interaction |url=http://linus.media.unisi.it/cirg/contact/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061013182832/http://linus.media.unisi.it/cirg/contact/ |archive-date=13 October 2006 |access-date=3 October 2011 |website=linus.media.unisi.it}}</ref> Clark's papers and books deal with the [philosophy of mind](/source/philosophy_of_mind) and he is considered a leading scholar<ref>{{Cite book |last=Chalmers |first=David |title=Supersizing the Mind [Foreword] |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2008 |isbn=9780199773688 |location=Oxford |pages=x |language=en}}</ref> on the subject of [mind extension](/source/mind_extension). He has also written extensively on [connectionism](/source/connectionism), [robotics](/source/robotics) and the role and nature of [mental representation](/source/mental_representation).<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-03-17 |title=Philosophy &#124; The University of Edinburgh |url=http://www.philosophy.ed.ac.uk/people/clark/publications.html |access-date=2020-05-25 |publisher=Philosophy.ed.ac.uk}}</ref>

== Philosophical work ==
Clark has proposed a two-way "cascade of [cortical](/source/cortical) processing" underlying [perception](/source/perception), [action](/source/Action_(philosophy)), and [learning](/source/learning). He posits a model where 'error units' are generated by comparing the expected outcome of a given process with the actual outcome, and these are used to refine the prediction of outcome in the future, creating a [feedback loop](/source/feedback_loop) between prediction and error. He posits that interactions between the 'forward' flow of error and 'backward' flow of prediction are dynamic, with factors such as attention, [dopamine](/source/dopamine) production, changes in environment, and one's individual [personality](/source/personality) affecting this two-way system.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Clark |first=Andy |date=2013-06-01 |title=Whatever next? Predictive brains, situated agents, and the future of cognitive science |journal=Behavioral and Brain Sciences |volume=36 |issue=3 |pages=181–204 |doi=10.1017/S0140525X12000477 |issn=1469-1825 |pmid=23663408 |doi-access=free}}</ref>

Clark's writings also focus on the concept of [transhumanism](/source/transhumanism), such as in his work ''Natural-Born Cyborgs'', which explores the fusion of human biology and [technological](/source/technological) [implant](/source/implant)s through a series of contemporary [technological studies](/source/technological_studies) and an evaluation of the [cyborg figure in pop-culture](/source/Cyborg).<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Clark |first=Andy |title=Natural-Born Cyborgs: Minds, Technologies, and the Future of Human Intelligence |publisher=Oxford University Press, Inc. |year=2004 |isbn=978-0195177510 |location=New York, New York |pages=1–7}}</ref>

=== Extended mind thesis ===
Clark has also worked on the [extended mind thesis](/source/extended_mind_thesis), which says that the mind extends into the environment. Clark spoke about this thesis in TEDxLambeth 2019.<ref>{{Cite web |title=TEDxLambeth {{!}} TED |url=https://www.ted.com/tedx/events/33524 |access-date=2020-08-14 |website=www.ted.com}}</ref>

==Personal life==
Clark lives in [Brighton](/source/Brighton), England, with his partner, Alexa Morcom, a [cognitive neuroscientist](/source/Cognitive_neuroscience).<ref>{{Cite news |last=MacFarquhar |first=Larissa |date=2018-04-02 |title=The Mind-Expanding Ideas of Andy Clark |magazine=[The New Yorker](/source/The_New_Yorker) |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/04/02/the-mind-expanding-ideas-of-andy-clark |access-date=2018-03-28}}</ref>

== Bibliography ==
Books by Andy Clark:
* ''Microcognition: Philosophy, Cognitive Science and Parallel Distributed Processing'' (1989)
* ''Associative Engines: Connectionism, Concepts and Representational Change'' (1993)
* ''Being There: Putting Brain, Body and World Together Again'' (1997)
* ''Mindware: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Cognitive Science'' (2001)
* ''Natural-Born Cyborgs: Minds, Technologies, and the Future of Human Intelligence'' (2004)
* ''Supersizing the Mind: Embodiment, Action, and Cognitive Extension'' (2008)
* ''Surfing Uncertainty: Prediction, Action, and the Embodied Mind'' (2016)
* ''The Experience Machine: How Our Minds Predict and Shape Reality'' (2023)<ref>{{Cite web |last=Greenawalt |first=Marc |date=2022-12-02 |title=Spring 2023 Announcements: Science |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/new-titles/adult-announcements/article/91035-spring-2023-announcements-science.html |access-date=2022-12-14 |website=Publishers Weekly}}</ref>

Clark is also on the editorial boards of the following journals:
* ''[Behavioral and Brain Sciences](/source/Behavioral_and_Brain_Sciences)''
* ''[Cognitive Science](/source/Cognitive_Science_(journal))''
* ''Cognitive Science Quarterly''
* ''Connection Science''
* ''[Minds and Machines](/source/Minds_and_Machines)''
* ''Philosophy and Society''
* ''Pragmatics and Cognition''

== References ==
{{reflist|30em}}

== External links ==
{{Wikiquote}}
*[https://profiles.sussex.ac.uk/p493-andy-clark Andy Clark's profile at the University of Sussex]
*[http://www.philosophy.ed.ac.uk/staff/clark/publications.html Clark’s papers available online]
*[http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/clark/clark_index.html Excerpt from ''Natural Born Cyborgs'']
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20040603033116/http://blogger.iftf.org/Future/000421.html Interview with ''Future Now'']

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clark, Andy}}
Category:1957 births
Category:20th-century British philosophers
Category:21st-century British philosophers
Category:Academics of the University of Edinburgh
Category:Academics of the University of Sussex
Category:Alumni of the University of Stirling
Category:Analytic philosophers
Category:British artificial intelligence researchers
Category:British transhumanists
Category:British consciousness researchers and theorists
Category:Fellows of the British Academy
Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
Category:British futurologists
Category:Indiana University Bloomington faculty
Category:Living people
Category:British philosophers of mind
Category:British philosophy academics
Category:Washington University in St. Louis faculty

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Andy Clark](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Clark) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Clark?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.