The problem with Krakauer’s view is deep and important. It is that competitive cognitive artifacts don’t just replace or undermine one cognitive task. They change the

cognitive ecology

, i.e. the social and physical environment in which we must perform cognitive tasks.

Complementary Cognitive Artifacts : These are artifacts that complement human intelligence in such a way that their use amplifies and improves our ability to perform cognitive tasks and once the user has mastered the physical artifact they can use a virtual/mental equivalent to perform the same cognitive task at a similar level of skill, e.g. an a

... See more

Cognitive artifacts are artifacts that ‘maintain, display or operate upon information in order to serve a representational function’.

one of the distinctive traits of human beings is that they can ‘modify the environment in which they live through the creation of artifacts’