Edwin Hutchins

Edwin Hutchins is a cognitive scientist known for studying how people work together to solve complex problems, especially in fields like aviation, maritime navigation, and military operations. He emphasizes that understanding a system requires looking at how individuals, tools, and their environment interact as a cohesive unit, rather than focusing on individuals alone. His work highlights the importance of distributed cognition—thinking shared across people and tools—demonstrating that complex tasks are managed through coordinated teamwork and context-aware processes.