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Tools as “petrified memes”: A duality

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 August 2020

Carsten Korth Open the ORCID record for Carsten Korth [Opens in a new window]
Carsten Korth*
Affiliation:
Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Moorenstrasse 5, 40219Düsseldorf, [email protected]://www.uniklinik-duesseldorf.de/en/institute-of-neuropathology/research/ag-korth
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Abstract

Tools are generated by defined steps, fulfill distinct uses, and elicit affordances or mental representations. When the latter are recombined, they are perceived as “technical reasoning,” resulting in novel tools when executed. They can be exchanged, varied, and selected between individuals in a cumulative social process. Tools are materialized, “petrified” memes forming a duality within the framework of active externalism.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 43 , 2020 , e169
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

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