I Am a Strange Loop
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I Am a Strange Loop
by Douglas R. Hofstadter
- 4 Ratings
- 27 Want to read
- 2 Currently reading
- 5 Have read
Hofstadter's long-awaited return to the themes of Gödel, Escher, Bach--an original and controversial view of the nature of consciousness and identity. What do we mean when we say "I"? Can a self, a soul, a consciousness, an "I" arise out of mere matter? If it cannot, then how can you or I be here? This book argues that the key to understanding selves and consciousness is a special kind of abstract feedback loop inhabiting our brains. Deep down, a human brain is a chaotic soup of particles, on a higher level it is a jungle of neurons, and on a yet higher level it is a network of abstractions that we call "symbols." The most central and complex symbol in your brain or mine is the one we both call "I." But how can such a mysterious abstraction be real--or is our "I" merely a convenient fiction?--From publisher description.
Previews available in: English
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I Am a Strange Loop
Sep 25, 2018, Hachette Book Group and Blackstone Audio
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1549172654 9781549172656
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I Am a Strange Loop
First published in 2007
Subjects
Self (Philosophy), Intellect, Consciousness, Soul, Kognitiver Prozess, Metamathematik, Symbolen, Bewustzijn, Selbsterkenntnis, Künstliche Intelligenz, Selbstbezüglichkeit, Patronen (modellen), Identity (psychology), Medvetandet, Kèunstliche Intelligenz, SelbstbezèuglichkeitWork Description
Hofstadter's long-awaited return to the themes of Gödel, Escher, Bach--an original and controversial view of the nature of consciousness and identity. What do we mean when we say "I"? Can a self, a soul, a consciousness, an "I" arise out of mere matter? If it cannot, then how can you or I be here? This book argues that the key to understanding selves and consciousness is a special kind of abstract feedback loop inhabiting our brains. Deep down, a human brain is a chaotic soup of particles, on a higher level it is a jungle of neurons, and on a yet higher level it is a network of abstractions that we call "symbols." The most central and complex symbol in your brain or mine is the one we both call "I." But how can such a mysterious abstraction be real--or is our "I" merely a convenient fiction?--From publisher description.
I Am a Strange Loop
This edition was published in 2007 by Basic Books in New York.
Edition Description
Hofstadter's long-awaited return to the themes of Gödel, Escher, Bach--an original and controversial view of the nature of consciousness and identity. What do we mean when we say "I"? Can a self, a soul, a consciousness, an "I" arise out of mere matter? If it cannot, then how can you or I be here? This book argues that the key to understanding selves and consciousness is a special kind of abstract feedback loop inhabiting our brains. Deep down, a human brain is a chaotic soup of particles, on a higher level it is a jungle of neurons, and on a yet higher level it is a network of abstractions that we call "symbols." The most central and complex symbol in your brain or mine is the one we both call "I." But how can such a mysterious abstraction be real--or is our "I" merely a convenient fiction?--From publisher description.
Table of Contents
| Preface: an author and his book | ||
| An affable locking of horns | ||
| On souls and their sizes | ||
| This teetering bulb of dread and dream | ||
| The causal potency of patterns | ||
| Loops, goals, and loopholes | ||
| On video feedback | ||
| Of selves and symbols | ||
| The epi phenomenon | ||
| Embarking on a strange-loop safari | ||
| Pattern and provability | ||
| Gödel's quintessential strange loop | ||
| How analogy makes meaning | ||
| On downward causality | ||
| The elusive apple of my "I" | ||
| Strangeness in the "I" of the beholder | ||
| Entwinement | ||
| Grappling with the deepest mystery | ||
| How we live in each other | ||
| The blurry glow of human identity | ||
| Consciousness = thinking | ||
| A courteous crossing of words | ||
| A brief brush with Cartesian egos | ||
| A tango with zombies and dualism | ||
| Killing a couple of sacred cows | ||
| On magnanimity and friendship | ||
| Epilogue: the quandary. |
Edition Notes
Includes bibliographical references (p. [377]-382) and index.
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History
- Created August 11, 2011
- 12 revisions
| December 23, 2021 | Edited by ImportBot | import existing book |
| July 6, 2021 | Edited by Jenner | Merge works |
| December 17, 2020 | Edited by MARC Bot | import existing book |
| July 27, 2019 | Edited by AAAAAAidan | Edited without comment. |
| August 11, 2011 | Created by ImportBot | Imported from Internet Archive item record. |