Reading Kathryne Hayles’ paper on ‘Unfinished Work: from Cyborg to Cognisphere’ a few interesting thoughts were precipitated.
Cognisphere is a term first coined by T. Whalen in 2000..
In Walen’s and Hayles’ definition of Cognisphere information transfer moves beyond the boundaries of Human to Machine (and vice versa) but instead embraces the information flow at a ’systems level’, the system being the entire planet, society at large and the as the medium the entire electromagnetic wave spectrum.
In this ‘holistic view’ the cognisphere becomes an extension of the currently experienced social and environmental spheres with the opportunity of lifting human consciousness to new heights, as expressed by Hayles (2006): ’the cognisphere gives a name and shape to the globally interconnected cognitive systems in which humans are increasingly embedded.’
Maybe this topic is worth further investigations, possibly as part of the Digital Essay project?
References:
Hayles, H.K. (2006) Unfinished Work: From Cyborg to Cognisphere. Theory, Culture, Society 23(7-8), 159-166
Whalen, T. (2000) ‘Data Navigation, Architecture of Knowledge’; paper presented at the Banff Summit on Living Architecture: Designing for Immersion and Interaction, Banff New Media Institute, 23 Sept.