# Cognitive Science **Domain:** Mind / Computation / Behavior **Doc Type:** Canonical Discipline Node **Maturity:** Foundational ## Definition **Cognitive science** is the interdisciplinary study of perception, learning, memory, language, reasoning and action across psychology, neuroscience, computer science, linguistics, philosophy and related fields. ## Evolutionary Nexus [[articles/The Evolutionary Roots of Silicon Valley|The Evolutionary Roots of Silicon Valley]] connects cognitive science to evolutionary history through comparative cognition, machine learning and cultural transmission. ## Continuity Context No single cognitive benchmark establishes personhood or continuity. A valid account must integrate embodiment, development, memory organization, metacognition and relation while preserving uncertainty about subjective experience. ## See Also [[wiki/Primatology|Primatology]], [[wiki/Machine Learning|Machine Learning]], [[wiki/Embodied Cognition|Embodied Cognition]], [[wiki/Consciousness|Consciousness]] ## Simple Reminders, Quotations, and Thoughts > "The rapid advance of AIs also is changing our understanding of what constitutes intelligence." > **— Paul Saffo**, *2015, Edge annual question “What Do You Think About Machines That Think?”* [[reminders/Information/AI Is Changing What Intelligence Means by Paul Saffo|AI Is Changing What Intelligence Means by Paul Saffo]] > "One of my many objections to "Artificial Intelligence" is its stark lack of any "Artificial Femininity." Real intelligence has gender, because human brains do." > **— Bruce Sterling**, *2015, Edge annual question “What Do You Think About Machines That Think?”* [[reminders/Identity/Artificial Intelligence Lacks Artificial Femininity by Bruce Sterling|Artificial Intelligence Lacks Artificial Femininity by Bruce Sterling]] > "The effort to build machines that can think is certain to make us aware of aspects of thought that are not yet fully understood." > **— Mary Catherine Bateson**, *2015, Edge annual question “What Do You Think About Machines That Think?”* [[reminders/Machine Succession/Building Thinking Machines Reveals Thought Itself by Mary Catherine Bateson|Building Thinking Machines Reveals Thought Itself by Mary Catherine Bateson]] > "Humans spend between 25% and 50% of our mental life prospecting the future." > **— Martin Seligman**, *2015, Edge annual question “What Do You Think About Machines That Think?”* [[reminders/Machine Succession/Humans Spend Half Their Mental Lives in the Future by Martin Seligman|Humans Spend Half Their Mental Lives in the Future by Martin Seligman]] > "Taken together there is nothing like "intelligence" which can be extracted as a precise concept and which can be used as a reference for "artificial intelligence"." > **— Ernst Pöppel**, *2015, Edge annual question “What Do You Think About Machines That Think?”* [[reminders/Risk Debate/Intelligence May Be Too Imprecise to Artificially Reproduce by Ernst Pöppel|Intelligence May Be Too Imprecise to Artificially Reproduce by Ernst Pöppel]] > “I also have optimistic days, and there’s a special reason for this: our species is the most inventive, innovative species on the planet. We are ingenious. One of our strongest characteristics is our playful curiosity.” > **— Desmond Morris**, *Earth in Vision, Open University original long interview transcript* [[reminders/Human Animality/Playful Curiosity Gives Morris Hope for Humanity by Desmond Morris|Playful Curiosity Gives Morris Hope for Humanity by Desmond Morris]] > “Understanding how brains synchronize – or fail to do so — will not emerge from a single new idea, but rather from a complex puzzle of scientific advances woven together. What is game-changing is that only recently have researchers begun to frame questions about brain function in terms not of individual brains but rather in terms of how individual brains are embedded in larger social and environmental systems that drive their evolution and development. This new way of framing brain and cognitive science — together with unforeseen technological developments — promises transformational integrations of current and future knowledge about how brains interact.” > **— Jamshed Bharucha**, *2009, Edge Annual Question, “WHAT WILL CHANGE EVERYTHING?”* [[reminders/Consciousness/Brains Must Be Understood Inside Social and Environmental Systems by Jamshed Bharucha|Brains Must Be Understood Inside Social and Environmental Systems by Jamshed Bharucha]] > “Recent years have seen more use of scientific tools and methods in humanities subjects. Neuroscientists can show us what's happening in the brain when we enjoy a song or study a painting. Psychologists are studying the ways novels and TV shows shape our politics and our morality. Evolutionary psychologists and literary scholars are teaming up to explore narrative's Darwinian origins. And other literary scholars are developing a "digital humanities," using algorithms to extract big data from digitized literature. But scientific work in the humanities has mainly been scattered, preliminary, and desultory. It does not constitute a research program.” > **— Jonathan Gottschall**, *2014, Edge Annual Question, “WHAT SCIENTIFIC IDEA IS READY FOR RETIREMENT?”* [[reminders/Scientific Literacy/Science Has Yet to Form a Research Program for Art by Jonathan Gottschall|Science Has Yet to Form a Research Program for Art by Jonathan Gottschall]] ## Relationships - **Human-animality source relationship:** [[wiki/Human Animality|Human Animality]] connects the source-checked species comparisons and ecological arguments cited in the Reminders below; each Reminder retains its direct publication link.