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A review by marisbest2
Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas R. Hofstadter
5.0
This book defies description. It’s at once number theory introduction, philosophy, brilliant wordplay and literary analysis, plus a thorough analysis and description of some primitive AI back from the 70s.
The analysis of cognition and self awareness is strong. The literary structure and multi nested analysis are just a brilliant work of art.
The biggest surprise from a 2022 standpoint is that even though there’s extensive analysis of the brain and neurons, neural nets aren’t considered. The second biggest surprise is that there’s practically no discussion of randomness or statistics. Everything is assumed to follow simple logical steps and loops. These two missing pieces would probably require a wholesale rethinking of every part of the argument.
Anyway glad I spent the time. Very very good.
The analysis of cognition and self awareness is strong. The literary structure and multi nested analysis are just a brilliant work of art.
The biggest surprise from a 2022 standpoint is that even though there’s extensive analysis of the brain and neurons, neural nets aren’t considered. The second biggest surprise is that there’s practically no discussion of randomness or statistics. Everything is assumed to follow simple logical steps and loops. These two missing pieces would probably require a wholesale rethinking of every part of the argument.
Anyway glad I spent the time. Very very good.