>[!abstract] >The process of relying on external tools (such as calculators, GPS, notebooks, and search engines) to improve immediate performance while reducing the need to maintain information in one’s mental space. The potential tradeoff of doing so is the [[McLuhan’s amputation]], which [[Clark (2025)]] argues is worth it. >[!quote] >But looked at another way (as the authors of these studies mostly acknowledge) these mistakes [the McLuhan’s amputations from cognitive offloading] can also seem like quite a small price to pay. As our tools and technologies have progressed, we have been able to probe ever further and deeper into the mysteries of life and matter. We have come to understand much about the likely conditions at the very start of time and unlocked the biochemical foundations of life. We have not achieved this by becoming dumber and dumber brains but by becoming smarter and smarter hybrid thinking systems ([[Clark (2025)|Clark, 2025, p. 1]]). >[!related] >- **North** (upstream): — >- **West** (similar): — >- **East** (different): — >- **South** (downstream): —