000			04002cam a2200277 a 4500
001			15024838
005			20110402115259.0
008			070927s2007 nyuaf b 001 0 eng c
020			_a9780465030781
040			_aDDC
082			_222 _a126 _bHOF
100	1		_aHofstadter, Douglas R., _d1945- _91369
245	1	0	_aI am a strange loop / _cDouglas Hofstadter.
260			_aNew York : _bBasic Books, _cc2007.
300			_axix, 412 p., [4] p. of plates : _bill. (some col.) ; _c25 cm.
500			_aWhat do we mean when we say "I"? Can thought arise out of matter? 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? I Am a Strange Loop argues that the key to understanding selves and consciousness is the "strange loop"--a special kind of abstract feedback loop inhabiting our brains. Deep down, a human brain is a chaotic seething 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." The "I" is the nexus in our brain where the levels feed back into each other and flip causality upside down, with symbols seeming to have free will and to have gained the paradoxical ability to push particles around, rather than the reverse. For each human being, this "I" seems to be the realest thing in the world. But how can such a mysterious abstraction be real--or is our "I" merely a convenient fiction? Does an "I" exert genuine power over the particles in our brain, or is it helplessly pushed around by the all-powerful laws of physics? These are the mysteries tackled in I Am a Strange Loop, Douglas R. Hofstadter's first book-length journey into philosophy since Godel, Escher, Bach. Compulsively readable and endlessly thought-provoking, this is the book Hofstadter's many readers have long been waiting for.
505	0		_aPreface: 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.
520			_aHofstadter'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.
650		0	_aPhilosophy
650		0	_aConsciousness. _91370
650		0	_aIntellect. _9562
650		0	_aSoul. _91371
942			_2ddc _cBK
952			_3HB _w2011-04-02 _p00014233 _r2013-09-12 _40 _00 _bCJC _10 _o126 HOF _d2011-04-02 _8SRS _70 _cGEN _2ddc _g450.00 _yBK _s2013-09-04 _l3 _aCJC
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