Mediated activity comes in all sorts and forms, and one familiar example include a blind man and his stick. When the blind man walks by himself he is (as we all are) depending on some kind of knowledge about the surroundings. In order to construct this knowledge, the blind man uses a distinct artifact: the stick. The blind man feels through his stick what the world around him “looks” like, and through the stick he is able to construct a “picture” or a “map” which he can navigate by. As he uses this stick to “see”, the question arises about what “state” this stick has in his “biology”. It seems obvious that the stick at least can be understood as integrated with the body when he is using it, and this integration gives him new possibilities. Through the stick he can feel the surface of the ground, if there are any bumps or other obstacles in his way that he has to take notice of. He is “another” man with the stick that without; he can “get by” differently. It seems quite clear that his sensory organs have changed, so where does the body of the blind man end? Is it by the skin in the hand holding the stick, is it by the tip of the stick, or is it somewhere in between?
And further, all artifacts mediate also in another way. Not only is the blind man’s stick a mediating tool in his search for information about his surroundings, it is also a signal to the surroundings. This signal, a white stick held by a person in front of him, tells us to stand aside and not to make unnecessary distractions in his way. The use of this artifact communicates something to the world: “I am blind”. All artifacts have this double character of mediating both perception and action, although in different manners.
The thing is, then, who we are (in the deepest sense of the word) is depending on what tools or artifacts we are using. It is not our biology, but our tools that defines our “nature”. If we want to become “smarter”, we have to learn how to use more tools.
