Survival is really hard. You’re always busy either trying to find something to eat or to avoid being eaten. Because of this, many organisms have evolved strategies for modifying their physical environments to improve their chances of success. Beavers build dams. Birds build nests. The fungus Ophiocordyceps unilateralis infects the ant Camponotus leonardi and highjacks its nervous system. It then causes the ant to leave its nest, find an area with just the right temperature and humidity for fungal growth, anchor its mandible into a leaf, and die. Weird. Ecologists refer to this phenomenon as niche construction: modifying aspects of your ecological niche in order to improve your ability to survive.

We humans do this, too, of course. We also make dams… along with houses, roads, irrigation systems, bridges, canals, etc. We’ve developed a vast number of ways to modify our physical environments in order to improve our ability to survive. Uniquely among animals, though, we also modify our cognitive environments. That is, we have evolved tools for improving our ability to think and remember. Early on, our ancestors marked good hunting and fishing areas with petroglyphs so that they could recognize them again. Later, formal written language gave us the ability to remember and communicate more complex concepts. The development of geographic maps enabled us reason about spatial relationships we can’t directly perceive, while Playfair’s invention of statistical graphics gave us the ability to relate abstract concepts. Clark calls this process of modifying our environment to make it more conducive to thinking cognitive niche construction. Like ecological niche construction, we ultimately do this to improve our ability to survive and to thrive.

With the advent of computers, we now have an essentially unlimited ability to modify our cognitive environments. In fact, new technologies like the Oculus Rift may soon enable us to completely replace our perceived environments with whatever we want. And we have already invented an impressive range of computerized thinking tools so far, everything from spreadsheets to interactive network diagrams. But we’ve only scratched the surface of what’s possible. As our understanding of how our own minds work continues to evolve, so too will the tools we invent to further improve its functioning. It’s a virtuous cycle, baby, and it can’t happen fast enough. Our survival problems are bigger than ever.

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