The GnuVision Blog

Douglas Hofstadter is the author of a book which tries to find out how
`consciousness’ arises from inanimate matter. In his own words:

What is a self, and how can a self come out of stuff that is as selfless as a
stone or a puddle? What is an “I” and why are such things found only in
association with, as poet Russel Edson once wonderfully phrased it, “teetering
bulbs of dread and dream” - that is, only in association with certain kinds
of gooey lumps encased in hard protective shells mounted atop mobile
pedestals that roam the world on pairs of slightly fuzzy, jointed stilts?

The answer lies in what the
author describes to be `strange loops’ - certain mysterious patterns
arising in particular types of systems of meaningless symbols (GEB slowly
builds an analogy between `meaningless symbols’ and inanimate molecules).
Such strange loops are found aplenty in the works of the musician Bach, the
painter Escher and the logician Godel. In trying to make the reader appreciate
these strange loops and their relevance to the formation of consciousness, the
author touches upon a fantastic range of subjects - philosophy, logic, maths,
language, literature, biology, physics, computing …

It is unfortunately this book which I took with me to Vellore - and I am as
usual finding it flying way above my limits of comprehension. But no, even
if you find it difficult to comprehend the book in its full glory,
understanding bits and pieces here and there is not too tough - that’s how I
am reading it now. And I am getting some idea as to the meaning of `formal
systems’ and `isomorphisms’ and stuff like that. Good going … but next
time, I will keep in hand a Conan Doyle or Agatha Christie or Wodehouse.