Meeting KI-Postdocs: ‘Supersizing Confirmation Bias’

(Dr. Uwe Peters)

The hypothesis of extended cognition (HEC), i.e., the view that the realizers of mental states or cognition can include objects outside of the skull, has received much attention in
philosophy. While many philosophers have argued that various cognitions might extend into the world, it has not yet been explored whether this also applies to cognitive biases. Focusing on confirmation bias, I argue that a modified version of the original thought experiment to support HEC helps motivate the view that this bias, too, might extend into the world. Indeed, if we endorse common conditions for extended cognition, then there is reason to believe that even in real life, confirmation bias often extends, namely into computers and websites that tailor online content to us.