{{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 |era = 21st-century philosophy |name = Andy Clark |birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1957}} |birth_place = |school_tradition = Analytic philosophy |alma_mater = University of Stirling |institutions = University of Sussex<br>University of Edinburgh<br>Indiana University Bloomington<br>Washington University in St. Louis |main_interests = Philosophy of mind |notable_ideas = Extended mind }}
'''Andy Clark''' (born 1957) is a British philosopher. He is professor of cognitive philosophy at the University of Sussex. Prior to this, he was a professor of philosophy and chair in logic and metaphysics at the University of Edinburgh, director of the cognitive science program at Indiana University Bloomington, and rhetorical director of the philosophy-psychology-neuroscience program at 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.<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 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. He has also written extensively on connectionism, robotics and the role and nature of mental representation.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-03-17 |title=Philosophy | 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 processing" underlying perception, action, and 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 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 production, changes in environment, and one's individual 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, such as in his work ''Natural-Born Cyborgs'', which explores the fusion of human biology and technological implants through a series of contemporary technological studies and an evaluation of the cyborg figure in pop-culture.<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, 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, England, with his partner, Alexa Morcom, a cognitive neuroscientist.<ref>{{Cite news |last=MacFarquhar |first=Larissa |date=2018-04-02 |title=The Mind-Expanding Ideas of Andy Clark |magazine=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'' * ''Cognitive Science'' * ''Cognitive Science Quarterly'' * ''Connection Science'' * ''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'']
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{{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