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I Am a Strange Loop

Front Cover
27 Reviews
Basic Books, Aug 1, 2007 - Science - 436 pages
Can thought arise out of matter? Can self, soul, consciousness, "I" arise out of mere matter? If it cannot, then how can you or I be here? I Am a Strange Loopargues that the key to understanding selves and consciousness is the "strange loop"--a special kind of abstract feedback loop inhabiting our brains. The most central and complex symbol in your brain is the one called "I." The "I" is the nexus in our brain, one of many symbols seeming to have free will and to have gained the paradoxical ability to push particles around, rather than the reverse. How can 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 laws of physics? These are the mysteries tackled in I Am a Strange Loop, Douglas Hofstadter's first book-length journey into philosophy since Godel, Escher, Bach. Compulsively readable and endlessly thought-provoking, this is a moving and profound inquiry into the nature of mind.

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Review: I Am a Strange Loop

User Review  - Ronald Fife - Goodreads

Hofstadter's work is indispensable for anyone seeking a logical understanding of human consciousness. Although his insight into the process of consciousness may be on the right track, he does not ... Read full review

Review: I Am a Strange Loop

User Review  - John Alt - Goodreads

What Do We Mean When We Say "I"? Douglas Hofstadter has a vivid recollection of a pig's head on a table in a market. As a teenager he could see the severed neck that once had lines of communication ... Read full review

All 25 reviews »

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About the author (2007)

Douglas R. Hofstadter is College of Arts and Sciences Professor of computer science and cognitive science at Indiana University and author of the Pulitzer-prize winning "Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid".

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