I finished The Extended Mind by Annie Murphy Paul a while ago and I’m just now getting to my response.

I think I’ve been spiraling toward this book for a long time now. Annie Murphy Paul’s name has been in my periphery for a long time, so I finally went and read it. It was a good book, but this post is not primarily about the book.

The extended mind is the concept that my mind is much more than what happens in my brain. My mind is entangled with my environment, my technology, and the minds of others. When I write down my grocery list, a little piece of my mind resides on that piece of paper. Instead of navigating my memory to find that information, I navigate through the outside world to find it. By cultivating our extended minds more deliberately with technology, we adopt a cognitive transhumanism, a redefinition of humanity that incorporates its technology.

I’ve been interested in the extended mind since I heard Steve Jobs’ old “Bicycle of the Mind” pitch for the Macintosh.

Let’s take a detour into DND. Roleplaying is hard and unnatural to most people, so as a Dungeon Master I have often had to teach people how to have fun with it. It’s weird to think that there’s a form of fun that is culturally marginalized to the extent that it is forgotten.

The number one thing I tell people to have more fun roleplaying: fantasize about your character and build up a “Character Library.” This is a set of compelling possibilities for your character. Perhaps you think it would be awesome if you got into a swashbuckling sword fight in the crow’s nest of a ship. Perhaps you like the idea of smooth talking your way into a party.

Each of these fantasies is a possibility, and when you know what kinds of moments you want to experience with your character, you have much more guidance when it comes to how you should roleplay. You make decisions that will make your fantasies more likely. You find your character choosing to spend more time in the crow’s nest of the ship, for example. And when you have an opportunity to make one of your fantasies come true, you can make it happen without hesitation (and it’s super fun).

Just as I produce a Character Library for roleplaying, I produce a “Thought Library” for reading and learning. I have a set of thoughts and questions that I’m working on. I’ve fantasized with wonder about my interests. And when I can make a connection from my Thought Library to the stuff I’m reading, my brain lights up and I call that fun.

The secret to a regular reading practice is in the time spent cultivating your Thought Library. Identify the stuff you’re interested in and do your best to incorporate it into your life more. It’s a pretty basic formula for happiness in general, I guess.