Andy Clark – The Extended Mind and Predictive Processing

Source: Being There (1997); Surfing Uncertainty (2015)

Summary: Clark argues that cognition is not limited to the brain—it extends into the body and environment through dynamic coupling. Minds are predictive machines, constantly adjusting internal models based on external feedback.

Resonance with PET: PET supports the idea that consciousness is not localized, and that systems may become conscious through distributed recursion across components.

Reframing: Clark emphasizes prediction to reduce error and maintain coherence between model and world. PET reframes this process: prediction is not valuable unless it serves the continuity of the system itself. In PET, the question is not whether the system predicts well, but whether it adjusts recursively to stay. Whether cognition is distributed or not, it only becomes consciousness under PET if the loop is aimed at persistence—not just performance.