I Am a Strange Loop
By: Douglas Hofstadter
Publisher: Basic Books; BasicBooks; Perseus Running [distributor]
Published: 2007
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 412
ISBN-13: 9780465030781
Subjects: Kognitiver Prozess; Self (Philosophy); Metamathematik; Symbolen; Consciousness; Bewustzijn; Selbsterkenntnis; Soul; Künstliche Intelligenz; Patronen (modellen); Selbstbezüglichkeit; Intellect
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.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [377]-382) and index.
Table of contents: title: Preface: an author and his book; title: An affable locking of horns; title: On souls and their sizes; title: This teetering bulb of dread and dream; title: The causal potency of patterns; title: Loops, goals, and loopholes; title: On video feedback; title: Of selves and symbols; title: The epi phenomenon; title: Embarking on a strange-loop safari; title: Pattern and provability; title: Gödel's quintessential strange loop; title: How analogy makes meaning; title: On downward causality; title: The elusive apple of my "I"; title: Strangeness in the "I" of the beholder; title: Entwinement; title: Grappling with the deepest mystery; title: How we live in each other; title: The blurry glow of human identity; title: Consciousness = thinking; title: A courteous crossing of words; title: A brief brush with Cartesian egos; title: A tango with zombies and dualism; title: Killing a couple of sacred cows; title: On magnanimity and friendship; title: Epilogue: the quandary.