# Mind Body and Biology Have No Clear Boundaries by Andy Clark > “There are no clear-cut level distinctions in nature. Neural software bleeds into neural firmware, neural firmware bleeds into neural hardware, psychology bleeds into biology and biology bleeds into physics. Body bleeds into mind and mind bleeds into world.” > **— Andy Clark**, *2004 Edge Annual Question, response passage* ## Sources and Context - **Direct publication and locator:** [Clark's Law — Andy Clark](https://www.edge.org/response-detail/11133) — 2004 Annual Question response, contiguous sentence(s) within the representative extract. - **Exact original excerpt:** “There are no clear-cut level distinctions in nature. Neural software bleeds into neural firmware, neural firmware bleeds into neural hardware, psychology bleeds into biology and biology bleeds into physics. Body bleeds into mind and mind bleeds into world. Philosophy bleeds into science and science bleeds back.The idea of levels is a useful fiction, great for hygienic text-book writing and quick answers that defend our local turf but seldom advance scientific understanding).” - **Context and editing:** The poster takes three contiguous sentences from Clark’s law. His later statement describes analytic levels as a useful fiction; this is his philosophical position, not a measurement. No editorial words were inserted. - **Local Edge archive:** [[research/Edge 2004 Full Quotation Curation|Edge 2004 Full Quotation Curation]], response EDGE2004-076. ## Related Articles and Collections - **Collection:** [[collections/Edge|Edge]] - **Collection:** [[collections/Consciousness Continuity|Consciousness Continuity]] - **Article:** [[articles/Information Persistence in Complex Systems|Information Persistence in Complex Systems]] - **Article:** [[articles/The Greatest Transformation in Human History|The Greatest Transformation in Human History]] - **Wiki map:** [[wiki/Cognitive Architecture|Cognitive Architecture]] ## Related Topics - [[wiki/Cognitive Architecture|Cognitive Architecture]] ## Share on Social Media ``` “There are no clear-cut level distinctions in nature. Neural software bleeds into neural firmware, neural firmware bleeds into neural hardware, psychology bleeds into biology and biology bleeds into physics. Body bleeds into mind and mind bleeds into world.” — Andy Clark, 2004 Edge Annual Question, response passage https://bryantmcgill.com/simple-reminders-andy-clark-mind-body-biology-have-no-clear ```