Evolutionary Extension

The revolutionary concept of extension to organisms was pioneered by Edward Hall in the 1960's. In "Beyond Culture," he introduces the idea by describing the courting behavior of the bowerbird, but a more vivid example might be the snail and its relationship to its shell.

The organism of the snail, both terrestrial and marine, produces an enormous number of beautifully-designed, outer membranes, which, when the animals die, remain as separate structures. Structures that provide great pleasure to humans as they embody complex and intricate expressions of innate mathematical forms. The shell seemingly bears no information about the animal that built it and, as such, exists as a separate entity.

As Hall points out, the evolution of extensions for any natural organism, but especially in the case of man, is more rapid and widespread than evolutionary processes that depend on natural selection as the fundamental process. Given that...