Since, in my view, theory is simply a research tool, and not the end product of research, the purpose of this exercise is to help the construction of an analytical framework that could inform, and better organize, further research. ... A theory that it is still in its exploratory stage, and should remain, as all relevant theories, a work in progress, always open to its rectification by empirical research.
-- Manuel Castells from "MATERIALS FOR AN EXPLORATORY THEORY OF THE NETWORK SOCIETY" Article for the Special Millennium Issue of the British Journal of Sociology. January 2000
The idea of intelligence (knowledge, cognition) being distributed in a group, or in artifacts, customs and situations, is in my view an interesting one not so much because of any questions that it might answer as because of the many it raises.
--- Raymond Nickerson, "On the Distribution of Cognitions: Some Reflections." in Distribution Cognitions: Psychological and Educational Considerations, edited by Gavriel Salomon