Cognitive Prosthesis

While reviewing my notes from the first day of my programming class, I came upon this jewel from the professor"

"The personal computer is a cognitive prosthesis".

Before today, I thought of my pc and internet access as my drug of choice, but I now realize it is more than a drug. It is not a cause of dependency, but, rather, a tool that allows me to do more than I can do in my natural state. It is an artificial attachment to my being that provides that which I did not have before.

A brief example: While checking e-mail in the college library this very day, the young lad sitting at the adjacent terminal turned to me and asked if I was a professor. "No", I said, "I'm a student, too. But what do you need?" "Well, I'm writing this paper, and I don't know whether to use lay or lie." Quick as a wink, I went to my Google home page, typed in "lay lie" in the search window, and in a micro-second got the search results. I showed the grammar web-site, with the correct usage, to the fellow and concluded the lesson. In about 30 seconds. Could I have done this 2 years ago? I don't think so.

Cognitive prosthesis............hmmmm.