Where does great thinking come from? Look beyond the brain

Annie Murphy Paul's book The Extended Mind was reviewed in the Washington Post.

Paul, a biology and social science writer, argues that the problem with our thinking about intelligence is that we believe it solely resides within the isolated organism of the brain. Her revolutionary thesis challenges us to rethink what we think about thinking. Our bodies, our social networks, and our surroundings, she argues, are "extra-neural" inputs that have a profound influence on cognition. Intelligence can be found, in part, in our brains, but perhaps even more importantly in our hearts and skin, in the architecture of the physical spaces we surround ourselves with and in the friendships we keep.

As a result of our mistaken beliefs, we've focused our efforts to get smarter on our brains. It is quite possible that we have invested our time and money in the wrong ways, as we haven't seen the advances in society and ourselves that we are capable of realizing.