Godel, escher, bach by douglas hofstadter the strange loop phenomenon occurs whenever by moving upwards or downwards through the levels of some hierarchical system, we unexpectedly find ourselves right back where we started. Buy i am a strange loop book online at low prices in india. A soul that can transcend space and time, survive death, and even possess others, is considered intellectually passe. Where he describes this selfreferential mechanism as what describes the unique property of minds. A strange loop is selfreferential object, like a snake eating its own tail. Compulsively readable and endlessly thoughtprovoking, this is a moving and profound inquiry into the nature of mind. It arises when, by moving only upwards or downwards through the system, one finds oneself back where one started. Douglas hofstadter is an american author who has written several books about philosophy, mathematics, and science.
Actually, he has written a much more thorough and comprehensible book than i could, and in such a friendly and personal way that i feel i could call him doug. Mar 23, 2019 following on from their strange loops triptych, marcus du sautoy and joana seguro discuss the inspiration behind the work douglas hofstadters 1979 book godel escher bach. Hofstadter s first book length journey into philosophy since godel, escher, bach. He writes, i hope this book will make you reflect in fresh ways on what being human is all aboutin fact, on what justplain being is all about. Compulsively readable and endlessly thoughtprovoking, this is a moving and.
A more accurate, if admittedly less wieldy title for douglas hofstadters book about the phenomenon of consciousness would be ones i is a. The strange loops explain much of what i experienced and when i combine the information from this video with your what is god parts 1 and 2, im able to re. How could it possibly live up to hofstadters original, pulitzer prizewinning work. James is the person who initially introduced me to douglas hofstadter s earlier book godel, escher, bach. It is a strange loop generated by a myriad of lesser loops. I am a strange loop quotes showing 125 of 25 in the end, we selfperceiving, selfinventing, lockedin mirages are little miracles of selfreference. In 1979, a cult book by douglas hofstadter explored consciousness via a mathematical idea found in art and music. Hofstadter felt a need to write a new book because so many people misperceived geb as a hodgepodge of neat things with no central theme. I am a strange loop by douglas hofstadter issue 78. Hofstadter wrote i am a strange loop, published in 2007, to spell out this theme more clearly, to explain what an i is. It won both the pulitzer prize for general nonfiction and a national book award at that time called the american book award for science. The interview below was conducted in september 2007 and was originally published, in hebrew, in the online culture magazine haayal hakore. Hofstadter has long been fascinated by self reference loops. I am a strange loop should not be taken to mean douglas hofstadter is a strange loop.
A reflection on the loopy self arts the harvard crimson. The strange loop in deep learning intuition machine medium. The book sits on shelves with its cover proclaiming, i am a strange loop. Download for offline reading, highlight, bookmark or take notes while you read i am a strange loop. In this book, hofstadter observes that due to the attention that other aspects of geb garnered, the main point, that of strange loops being the origin of the human. Apr 08, 2018 huge credit to david szakaly for his visual representation of a strange loop. Mar 09, 2019 bach, escher and godels strange loops may have the answer in 1979, a cult book by douglas hofstadter explored consciousness via a mathematical idea found in art and music. An eternal golden braid is still something of a marvel. Review of i am a strange loop by douglas hofstadter part 1. Douglas hofstadter is a distinguished professor of cognitive science and comparative literature at indiana university. His new book, as brilliant and provocative as earlier ones, is a colorful mix of. Strange loop syndrome my little corner of the spectrum book godel, escher, bach. Subject, consciousness, strange loops, intelligence.
He is perhaps most famous for his book godel, escher, bach which explores strange loops, or selfreferential systems. Hofstadter, one of whose specialties is the study of feedback loops in complex systems, coins sometimes unfortunate terms for our own loopy ways of thinking, among them thinkodynamics and statistical mentalics, but the governing idea is a fruitful one. I am a strange loop by douglas hofstadter issue 78 philosophy. The i in the title refers to the concept of the i in all of us. This is a question that hofstadter, like searle, cannot bring himself to ask. One of our greatest philosophers and scientists of the mind. In the end, we are selfperceiving, selfinventing, lockedin mirages that are little miracles of selfreference. I am a strange loop free summary by douglas hofstadter. And, as we would expect, hofstadter s new masterpiece is indeed a strange loop, but one that deserves close attention. This seems to me to be a satisfying, although not necessarily complete, analysis of the strage of human consciousness in a material universe. Mar 27, 2007 these are the mysteries tackled in i am a strange loop, douglas r. Huge credit to david szakaly for his visual representation of a strange loop.
Oct 24, 2008 for that reason, i was tentative in 2007 when hofstadter released i am a strange loop, a thinner book than the earlier tome, and of narrower scope but still tackling a broad and deep subject. A tangled hierarchy is a hierarchical consciousness system in which a strange loop appears. Scott oreilly loops the loop with douglas hofstadter. I am a strange loop attempts to correct this problem by better illustrating how. Hofstadter is college professor of cognitive science and computer science at indiana university, bloomington, indiana. Hofstadter, a professor of cognitive science at indiana university, is best known for his pulitzer prize winning godel, escher, bach, or geb as he likes to call it. Hofstadter also feared after writing the book that many readers missed its central point. Also, discussion on the strange loops with this theorem. The concept of a strange loop was proposed and extensively discussed by douglas hofstadter in godel, escher, bach, and is further elaborated in hofstadters book i am a strange loop, published in 2007. In the big strange loops book hofstadter 2007 they referred in passing to translating in a broad sense, especially between godels theorem and english 145 and as an analogue of the replicability of patterns 224, 257 a theme that had helped organize the cognitive science of their big translation book hofstadter 1997 but never as.
Twenty years after it topped the bestseller charts, douglas r. Pulitzerprize winner douglas hofstadter takes on some weighty and wonderful questions in i am a strange. These are the mysteries tackled in i am a strange loop, douglas r. And the book does an excellent job of presenting his views on just how the i forms in a brain, what kind of hardware may be necessary for an i, what kinds of i am out there, and on how many brains a single i may live. I am a strange loop is a 2007 book by douglas hofstadter, examining in depth the concept of. Hofstadters first book length journey into philosophy since godel, escher, bach. Best known for his pulitzer prize winning book, godel, escher, bach, published in 1979, douglas hofstadter continues his examination of selfreferential systems in his latest book. It is a minute portion of the universe, a glob of dead matter within our skull, not only observing itself, but aware it is observing itself. Douglas hodstadter i am a strage loop, perseus books. Intelligence, art, music, and life are a strange loop. Nearly three decades later, in my 2007 book i am a strange loop, i tried to express these same ideas more simply and more directly, and i hope i did a bit better the second time around. Book list life purpose course forum reality is a strange loop.
The concept of a strange loop was originally developed in his 1979 book godel, escher, bach. Bach, escher and godels strange loops may have the answer. This weekend i read a short fragment from douglas hofstadter s book i am a strange loop at my friends james and lucys wedding. Get unlimited access to the best stories on medium and support writers while youre at. Metamagical themas, the mind s i, fluid concepts and creative. I am a strange loop, by douglas hofstadter the independent. May 16, 2017 i recently finished i am a strange loop by douglas hofstadter. I am a strange loop is a 2007 book by douglas hofstadter, examining in depth the concept of a strange loop to explain the sense of i. I am a strange loop by douglas hofstadter scott oreilly loops the loop with douglas hofstadter. Compulsively readable and endlessly thoughtprovoking, this is the book hofstadters many readers have long been waiting for. Douglas hofstadter in his book i am a strange loop coined this idea.
You would not find the boundaries of the soul no matter how many paths you traveled, so deep is its measure. Twentyeight years ago, douglas hofstadter published a book titled goedel, escher, bach that earned him instant academic renown and a cultlike following. Now, in the ai revolution, that concept could solve a vital question. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders. These are the mysteries tackled in i am a strange loop, douglas hofstadters first booklength journey into philosophy since godel, escher, bach. I am a strange loop, too, and douglas hofstadter has written my book. It is one thing to analyze the relation between three applications their results in math, visual art, and music of selfreferencing thought, and quite another to analyze the entity doing the. I am a strange loop by douglas hofstadter, used abebooks. These are the mysteries tackled in i am a strange loop, douglas hofstadters first book length journey into philosophy since godel, escher, bach. Hofstadter will change your idea of what it is to be creative and even what it is to be human. Hofstadter was written in 2008 and is the authors follow up to godel, escher, bach, also known as geb. A strange loop is a cyclic structure that goes through several levels in a hierarchical system. Strange loops of translation doug robinson many loops. The book is an introduction to the core ideas about self, selfreference, feedback loops and consciousness as an emergent phenomena.
What is a strange loop and what is it like to be one. The purpose of douglas hofstadter s new book is to make inroads into the nexus of self, selfawareness and consciousness by examining selfreferential structures in areas as diverse as art and mathematics. And indeed, it is impossible to come away from this book without having introduced elements of. In this talk ill try to get across the crux of these intuitions about the mysterious concept of i. Access a free summary of i am a strange loop, by douglas hofstadter and 20,000 other business, leadership and nonfiction books on getabstract. A guided tour through douglas hofstadter s paradoxical concept of strange loops. Strangely wrongi must suggest something blasphemously arrogant. The most recent, published this year by basic, is douglas.
An eternal golden braid, and i am a strange loop, and more on. In his latest book, i am a strange loop, he visits once again many of the themes originally presented in that book. These are the mysteries tackled in i am a strange loop, douglas hofstadter s first book length journey into philosophy since goedel, escher, bach. There are largescale and smallscale things happening within our minds all the. Pulitzerprize winner douglas hofstadter takes on some weighty and wonderful questions in i am a strange loopamong them, the size of a soul and the vagaries of thoughtand proposes persuasive answers that surprised me both with their simplicity and their sense of optimism. Compulsively readable and endlessly thoughtprovoking, this is the book hofstadter s many readers have long been waiting for. Does an i exert genuine power over the particles in our brain, or is it helplessly pushed around by the laws of physics. He had solved the mindbody problem, the mystery of who we really are. The first third of this book is the hofstadter that i expected to read dragging me through a laypersons guide to prime numbers, squares, the fibonacci series, principia mathematica and bertrand russells attempt to banish paradox from mathematics, and finally, godels discovery of the ultimate self reflective mathematical string which shattered russells dreams.
Strange loop syndrome my little corner of the spectrum. I am a strange loop by douglas hofstadter, used abebooks passion for books. Hofstadter and a great selection of related books, art and collectibles available now at. Strange loops may involve selfreference and paradox. Douglas hofstadter, justifiably famous for godel, escher, bach wrote about the much trickier subject of mind and personal identity in this 2004 book. Its mixture of logic, music and visual art blended the richness of the humanities and the rigor of the sciences in an altogether unforgettable confection that won a. I am a strange loop by douglas hofstadter abebooks. Today, more than two thousand years after heraclitus wrote those words, science has shrunk the boundaries of the soul considerably. Can self, soul, consciousness, i arise out of mere matter. Hofstadter always has an intriguing and playful way to present his thinking. I am a strange loop by douglas hofstadter abebooks passion for books. When i saw a copy of i am a strange loop in a usedbook store, and hofstadter said in the intro it was his update of godel, escher, bach, i figured this was my. Compulsively listenable and endlessly thoughtprovoking, this is a moving and profound inquiry into the nature of mind.
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