Review of Hofstadter's new book from
http://www.scienceagogo.com/news/books.shtml
I Am a Strange Loop
Douglas R. Hofstadter (2006)
ISBN: 0465030785
This fascinating book tackles the weighty question of what we mean
when we refer to "I." Douglas R. Hofstadter, College Professor of
Cognitive Science and Computer Science at Indiana University, poses
controversial questions on consciousness that are liable to toss all
your preconceived notions of self around your head like mismatched
socks on a spin cycle. If you feel like you're falling down the
rabbit-hole when you try and comprehend a concept of "I," it's
probably due to what the Pulitzer Prize winning Professor calls the
"strange loop." According to Hofstadter this term refers to a special
feedback loop that incorporates several levels of cognition within the
brain. He describes the brain as working on a hierarchy, with a lower,
primordial mass of freewheeling particles all the way up to the higher
levels dominated by abstract "symbols". Among the symbols, says
Hofstadter, "I" is the most central and complex symbol of all and acts
as a nexus between the different hierarchies. But, asks Hofstadter, do
these symbols - or thoughts - defy physics? Is it a situation of mind
over matter? This is one of the most interesting aspects of I am A
Strange Loop, as it raises the question of whether thoughts push
particles around and cause action and movement, or vice versa. Of
course, this concept could raise all sorts of possibilities relating
to souls, spirits and the like, but Hofstadter doesn't take this path.
Instead, he takes a scientific approach in the hope of discovering the
mechanisms behind consciousness. Are our thoughts derived from
particles that follow deterministic physical laws, or are we missing
something? In either case the question of what a thought actually is,
and how it relates to a continual concept of "I," is sure to keep the
strange loop working overtime.
--
"Bart! With $10,000 we'd be millionaires! We could buy all kinds of
useful things... like love." -- Homer J. Simpson
