Abstract

The paper argues that it is possible to discover causal laws that cover relations between electronic technology and the human mind. The general idea is based on the theory of the “extended mind”. Human mental activity, which essentially consists of the use of signs, does not only depend on internal processes, but also on external artifacts and human practical actions. The first part of the paper presents several versions of the idea of the external and cultural organization of an individual’s mental processes. The second part of the paper presents an interpretation of Marshall McLuhan’s aphorism, which claims that electronic “technology has the power to numb human awareness during the period of its first interiorization”.