Extended Memory: Early Calculating Engines and Historical Computer Simulations

When framed within cognitive theory's extended mind hypothesis, Charles Babbage's 19th century calculating machines illustrate a distinction between accuracy and flexibility. These properties affect how historical data and memory are organized, providing conceptual linkages for mind-machine integration. The distinction between accuracy and flexibility is also apparent in present-day computer simulations that use historical scenarios, such as virtual-reality software designed for the Bloody Sunday Inquiry, history-based video games and other art and entertainment software applications. These contemporary examples share one important feature of extended mind: the incorporation of history or personal memory into a shared memory system.