I am a Strange Loop

This is Douglas R Hofstadter´s long-awaited return to the themes of "Godel", "Escher", "Bach" - an original and controversial view of the nature of consciousness and identity. Why do we say "I"? Can thought arise out of matter? By "thought" we mean not mere calculation, the manipulation of algorithms and patterns according to fixed rules, but something deeper: experience, self-awareness, consciousness. "I Am a Strange Loop" argues that the key to understanding the level on which consciousness operates is the feedback loop. After introducing the reader to simple feedback systems like a flush toilet, the ever-popular thermostat and his own experiments with a video camera pointed at its own monitor, he Hofstadter turns to the idea of "strange loops" - feedback loops, which exist on two levels of meaning, a theory, which Kurt Godel employed in the mathematical statements constructed for his famous "Incompleteness Theorem". Like Godel´s logical statements, the brain also exists on at least two levels: a deterministic level of atoms and neurons, and a higher level of large mental structures we call symbols.One of these symbols, perhaps the central one which relates to all others in our minds, is the strange loop we call "I". By the time we reach adulthood, Hofstadter writes, "I" is an endless hall of mirrors, encompassing everything that has ever happened to us, vast numbers of counterfactual replays of important episodes in our lives, invented memories and expectations. But is it real? And if so, what does it consist of? Douglas Hofstadter´s first book-length essay on a scientific subject since "Godel", "Escher", "Bach", "I Am a Strange Loop" is a journey to the cutting edge of ideas about consciousness - a bold and provocative argument that is informed by the author´s unique verbal whimsy and eye for the telling example. Compulsively readable and endlessly thought-provoking, this is the book Hofstadter´s many readers have been waiting for.