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4.31 AVERAGE
4.31 AVERAGE
This is an edited repost of https://www.instagram.com/p/B_tANX9D3q_.
I quit #godelescherbach at the end of part 1. There are six reasons:
- the Achilles-Tortoise interludes are confusing,
- the interludes are not fun to read,
- the organization of Part I seemed scattershot,
- I don't have all the music next to me tagged at the right spot to get the Bach references,
- the side stories make me lose focus on the teachings, and
- picking the book up more than one week after the last read puts you easily several chapters behind.
The breaking point was this last chapter on Zen and abstract algebra, which was riddled with confusion *on purpose*. The point to be demonstrated was that words are just symbols. The point actually demonstrated was that I can't progress further in this book.
I quit #godelescherbach at the end of part 1. There are six reasons:
- the Achilles-Tortoise interludes are confusing,
- the interludes are not fun to read,
- the organization of Part I seemed scattershot,
- I don't have all the music next to me tagged at the right spot to get the Bach references,
- the side stories make me lose focus on the teachings, and
- picking the book up more than one week after the last read puts you easily several chapters behind.
The breaking point was this last chapter on Zen and abstract algebra, which was riddled with confusion *on purpose*. The point to be demonstrated was that words are just symbols. The point actually demonstrated was that I can't progress further in this book.
challenging
informative
slow-paced
challenging
funny
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
challenging
informative
reflective
challenging
funny
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Do not let yourself fall victim to a sense of completion when reading this book, the longer it takes you, likely the better. Then read it again, at a pace matching your reality. and again at that reality.
Get the book in paperback. Research any unfamiliarities, notate them within the book.
Get the book in paperback. Research any unfamiliarities, notate them within the book.
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
I started reading this book almost simultaneously with my application for an Artificial Intelligence master at my University. Honestly, I got a little frustrated with the one-sided approach to AI that I read about, the premise always seems to be 'artificial intelligence'=='machine learning'. So I was entirely happy during my read of this book. It gave me a playful introduction and a new look into first-order logic, a subject in which I was already pretty invested, as well as an endless supply of inspiration on which to draw in my further AI adventures. I loved this book for it and I cannot believe that no-one in my first few explorations with AI told me to stop what I was doing and read this tome first.
I did have some issues with the book. While I loved the first few dialoges and I was thoroughly impressed with the underlying themes of the dialogs, they did become somewhat stale and forced after a few of them. Also, the constant meta-ness that Hofstadter supplies is very interesting and part of what makes the book great, but at some times this also seemed a little forced and it undermined the credability of the story just a little.
Even so, writing (and reading for that matter) this book has been an amazing feat and I cannot imagine that I will not read it again some time and take even more insight away from it. This book should be mandatory reading for anyone doing something or another in the field of AI, or conciousness or anything related.
I did have some issues with the book. While I loved the first few dialoges and I was thoroughly impressed with the underlying themes of the dialogs, they did become somewhat stale and forced after a few of them. Also, the constant meta-ness that Hofstadter supplies is very interesting and part of what makes the book great, but at some times this also seemed a little forced and it undermined the credability of the story just a little.
Even so, writing (and reading for that matter) this book has been an amazing feat and I cannot imagine that I will not read it again some time and take even more insight away from it. This book should be mandatory reading for anyone doing something or another in the field of AI, or conciousness or anything related.