And 2 it inspired me write my own book about game theory. I found it very charming at the time, and provide it here somewhat illegally for the edification of a new generation of lispers. The book of the same name, published in 1985, collects the columns he wrote for the magazine. His scariest insights and most agonizing intellectual probings are graced, like hamlets, with humor, affection, and a kind of mad musical. Tbdm is more anecdotal, reflective and contemplative, and i didnt feel i came away with my paradigms quite so severely shifted. Thus, analogy is the mechanism that, silently and hidden, chooses our words and phrases for us when we speak, frames how we understand the most. Metamagical themas, one of which is dilemmas for superrational thinkers, leading up to a luring lottery scientific american, june 1983. Metamagical themas is a collection of eclectic articles written for scientific american during the early 1980s by douglas hofstadter, and published together as a book in 1985 by basic books isbn 0465045669 the subject matter of the articles is loosely woven about themes in philosophy, creativity, artificial intelligence, typography and fonts, and important social issues. Hofstadters many interests metxmagical music, visual art, the mind, creativity, consciousness, selfreference, translation and mathematics. Personally, i would have to disagree i still reserve that place for geb, which i found a sheer mindblowing experience. Fantasies and reflections on self and soul is a 1981 collection of essays and other texts about the nature of the mind and the self, edited with commentary by philosophers douglas r.
Buy metamagical themas by douglas r hofstadter online at alibris. Selfreferential sentences simple ones like this sentence contains five words, paradoxical ones like this sentence is false, selfdocumenting sentences which tally how many of each letter of the alphabet they contain, and a story composed entirely of selfreferential sentences. Bloomberg news i am a strange loop is vintage hofstadter. Seuss 18 billy dee williams 1989 song of solomon toni morrison 19 bo jackson 1990 the old man and the sea ernest hemingway. Metamagical themas was also published in french, under the title ma themagie intereditions, 1988, the translators being jeanbaptiste berthelin, jeanluc bonnetain, and lise rosenbaum. Hofstadter is a computer expert in the field of artificial intelligence. Questing for the essence of mind and pattern by douglas r. I believe the idea, at least in its mathematically precise form, is. Jul 05, 2018 for me this book was a companion to metamagical themas, a collection of hofstadters scientific american articles. Mathemetical games, was called metamagical themas looking closely at those two names will tell you a lot about douglas hofstadter and lasted for issues. Questing for the essence of mind and pattern by douglas hofstadter. Metamagical themas goodreads meet your next favorite book.
Excerpts from douglas hofstadters metamagical themas a collection mostly of articles he wrote for scientific american. Hofstadter s first book length journey into philosophy since godel, escher, bach. On december 9, c alifornia senator dianne feinstein made public a page report by the. Hofstadter s collection of quirky essays is unified by its primary concern. And indeed, it is impossible to come away from this. The books chapters are each made up of a previously published work by authors such as jorge luis borges, alan turing, richard dawkins, raymond smullyan, john searle, stanislaw lem, thomas nagel as well as hofstadter and dennett themselves, each followed up by a commentary by hofstadter andor dennett. Hofstadter, 9780465045662, available at book depository with free delivery worldwide.
The texts range from early philosophical and fictional musings on a subject that could seemingly only be examined in the realm of thought, to works from the twentieth. Hofstadter 1986, paperback at the best online prices at ebay. This book is a compilation of those columns, each with a new endnote by hofstadter and some letters received by the magazine and. The prisoners dilemma, computer tournaments and the. Douglass hofstadter expounds this idea at great length in a series of scientific american articles, reprinted in his collection. Its a nice theory, but hofstadter leaves it as a tantalising possibility, rather than giving any detail. A person paper on purity in language william satire alias douglas r. Hofstadter directs the center for research on concepts and cognition at indiana university, and is the college of arts and sciences professor of cognitive science and computer science.
Download for offline reading, highlight, bookmark or take notes while you read i am a strange loop. Questing for the essence of mind and pattern paperback douglas hofstadter author. To some people perhaps to most, perhaps even us all the ineffable sense of being an i or a first person, the intuitive sense of being there or simply existing, the powerful sense of having experience and of having raw sensations what some philosophers refer to as qualia, seem to be the realist things in thei8r lives, and an insistent inner. An eternal golden braid, first published in 1979, won both the pulitzer prize for general nonfiction and a national book award at that time called the american book award for science. Metamagical themas by douglas r hofstadter alibris. The best passage ever, is the one that i have waited all along my reading, the recursive definition of superrational players. This book by douglas hofstadter is subtitled questing for the essence of mind and pattern. Questing for the essence of mind and pattern by hofstadter, douglas and a great selection of related books, art and collectibles available now at. This dismal discipline, which emanates from the bertrand russellkarl korsch networks, has been used. He is the author of several highly regarded books, including godel, escher, bach and fluid concepts and creative analogies. These are the mysteries tackled in i am a strange loop, douglas r.
It consists of a collection of his columns from scientific american which were written under the same title, alternating with postscripts which expand on the columns and link them together. Metamagical themas douglas hofstadter doug hofstadter is rapidly becoming the hamlet of our times. Aug 15, 2001 metamagical themas covers the following topics, among others. Being a collection of articles, that book is much more accessible. They believe that perception is a key part of cognition, that analogy is a key component of perception, and that ai cognition research programmes that start from preperceived data input are missing the. In the mid80s, while reading through my roommates collection of scientific american back issues, i encountered this introduction to lisp written by douglas hofstadter.
Metamagical themas is an eclectic collection of articles that douglas hofstadter wrote for the popular science magazine scientific american during the early 1980s. I am a strange loop is thoughtful, amusing and infectiously enthusiastic. Douglas richard hofstadter is an american scholar of cognitive science, physics, and comparative literature whose research focuses on consciousness, thinking and creativity. Publication date 1985 usage attributionnoncommercialno derivative works 3. Indeed, when you start to think seriously about hofstadters theory, it falls to pieces. An exlibrary book and may have standard library stamps andor stickers. Compulsively readable and endlessly thoughtprovoking, this is a moving and profound inquiry into the nature of mind. The prisoners dilemma, computer tournaments and the evolution of cooperation may, 1983 life is filled with paradoxes and dilemmas. In which a discourse on the language lisp concludes with a gargantuan italian feast. This book is a compilation of those columns, each with a new endnote by hofstadter and some letters received by the magazine and his reply. Highly recommended for a ride into an forest of bizarre thoughts from a brillant thinker. These are the mysteries tackled in i am a strange loop, douglas hofstadters first booklength journey into philosophy since godel, escher, bach. Classic puzzles, paradoxes, and problems whether discussing hexaflexagons or number theory, klein bottles or the essence of nothing, martin gardner has singlehandedly created the field of recreational mathemat. In 1981 he gradually took over martin gardners column in scientific american, mathematical games, which he renamed metamagical themas, an anagram the same letters arranged in a new order of the original title.
His column, that occupied the same place as mathemetical games, was called metamagical themas looking closely at those two names will tell you a lot about douglas hofstadter and lasted for issues. Whether youve loved the book or not, if you give your honest and detailed thoughts then people will find new books that are right for them. Hofstadter s strange loop metaphysics attempts to map consciousness onto selfreference, but is a minority position in philosophy of mind. Metamagial out words and replace them with improved approximations. Jan 19, 2020 sep 15, thomas rated it it was amazing shelves. Jul 08, 2008 these are the mysteries tackled in i am a strange loop, douglas hofstadters first booklength journey into philosophy since godel, escher, bach. Hofstadters first booklength journey into philosophy since godel, escher, bach. In the essence of thought, hofstadter and sander show how analogymaking pervades our thought at all levelsindeed, that we make analogies not once a day or once an hour, but many times per second. The title of the book says that consciousness is tied to selfrepresentation, the levelbreaking recursion that happens in the proof of godels theorem. Other readers will always be interested in your opinion of the books youve read.
Hofstadter thinks tbdm is the best book hes ever written. Hofstadter chose the title metamagical themas for his column because it is an anagram of mathematical. The wordplay was lost in the french title, and replaced with another one ma themagie would translate to my themagy, where themagy is a neologism, but. Hofstadters law, which specifies that it always takes longer than you expect, even when you take into account hofstadters law is an example of a. And indeed, it is impossible to come away from this book without having introduced elements of. Compulsively readable and endlessly thoughtprovoking, this is the book hofstadters many readers have long been waiting for. Questing for the essence of mind and pattern new ed by hofstadter, douglas isbn. Douglas hofstadter person paper on purity in language. Questing for the essence of mind and pattern douglas hofstadter 17 william hurt 1989 did i tell you how lucky you are. Compulsively listenable and endlessly thoughtprovoking, this is a moving and profound inquiry into the nature of mind. Douglas hofstadter and his research group, farg, have a particular approach to modelling human thought processes, and this book collects together some of their work over the last two decades. So my metamagical themas will, in gardnerian fashion, attempt to show that magic often lurks where few suspect it, and by the opposite token, magic seldom lurks where many suspect it. Compulsively readable and endlessly thoughtprovoking, this is the book hofstadter s many readers have long been waiting for.
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