Gödel, Escher, Bach

Author: Douglas R. Hofstadter
Edition: 20 Anv
Binding: Paperback
ISBN: 0465026567
Publisher: Basic Books

Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid

• Music
• Art
• Mathematics
• Meditation on Human Thought and Creativity
• Artificial Intelligence

Douglas Hofstadter's book is concerned directly with the nature of 'maps' or links between formal systems. However, according to Hofstadter, the formal system that underlies all mental activity transcends the system that supports it. If life can grow out of the formal chemical substrate of the cell, if consciousness can emerge out of a formal system of firing neurons, then so too will computers attain human intelligence. Godel Escher and Bach is a wonderful exploration of fascinating ideas at the heart of cognitive science: meaning, reduction, recursion, and much more.

Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions (Dover Thrift Editions)

Classic of science (and mathematical) fiction - charmingly illustrated by author - describes the journeys of A. Square and his adventures in Spaceland (three dimensions), Lineland (one dimension)

I Am a Strange Loop

Can thought arise out of matter? Can self, soul, consciousness, AI" 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 understan

One Two Three . . . Infinity: Facts and Speculations of Science

Over 120 delightful pen-and-ink illustrations by the author add another dimension of good-natured charm to these wide-ranging explorations. A mind-expanding volume for the layman and the science-minde

The Mind's I Fantasies And Reflections On Self & Soul

With contributions from Jorge Luis Borges, Richard Dawkins, John Searle, and Robert Nozick, The Mind's I explores the meaning of self and consciousness through the perspectives of literature, artifici

Metamagical Themas: Questing For The Essence Of Mind And Pattern

Hofstadter's collection of quirky essays is unified by its primary concern: to examine the way people perceive and think.