The "Strange Loop" phenomenon occurs whenever, by moving upwards (or downwards) through levels of some hierarchial system, we unexpectedly find ourselves right back where we started.
-- Douglas Hofstadter
Do words and thoughts follow formal rules, or do they not?
-- Douglas Hofstadter
What is a self, and how can a self come out of stuff that is as selfless as a stone or a puddle?
-- Douglas Hofstadter
One of the basic tenets of Zen Buddhism is that there is no way to characterize what Zen is. No matter what verbal space you try to enclose Zen in, it resists, and spills over. It might seem, then, that all efforts to explain Zen are complete wastes of time. But that is not the attitude of Zen masters and students. For instance, Zen koans are a central part of Zen study, verbal though they are. Koans are supposed to be 'triggers' which, though they do not contain enough information in themselves to impart enlightenment, may possibly be sufficient to unlock the mechanisms inside one's mind that lead to enlightenment. But in general, the Zen attitude is that words and truth are incompatible, or at least that no words can capture truth.
-- Douglas Hofstadter
Perhaps the most concise summary of enlightenment would be: transcending dualism. … Dualism is the conceptual division of the world into categories. … human perception is by nature a dualistic phenomenon— which makes the quest for enlightenment an uphill struggle, to say the least.
-- Douglas Hofstadter
Relying on words to lead you to the truth is like relying on an incomplete formal system to lead you to the truth. A formal system will give you some truths, but as we shall soon see, a formal system, no matter how powerful — cannot lead to all truths.
-- Douglas Hofstadter
Below Every Tangled Hierarchy Lies An Inviolate Level.
-- Douglas Hofstadter
No reference is truly direct—every reference depends on SOME kind of coding scheme. It's just a question of how implicit it is.
-- Douglas Hofstadter
This sentence contradicts itself - no actually it doesn't.
-- Douglas Hofstadter
It turns out that an eerie type of chaos can lurk just behind a facade of order - and yet, deep inside the chaos lurks an even eerier type of order.
-- Douglas Hofstadter
It always takes longer than you expect, even if you take Hofstadter's Law into account.
-- Douglas Hofstadter
Undecidable propositions run through mathematics like threads of gristle that criss-cross a steak in such a dense way that they cannot be cut out without the entire steak's being estranged.
-- Douglas Hofstadter
Elegance is more than just a frill in life; it is one of the driving criteria behind survival.
-- Douglas Hofstadter
It would seem, then, that we need to look beyond the merely 'technical' level if we wish to solve the Prisoner's Dilemma. However, this is not to say that rationality is no use to us but that, rather, our conventional understanding of what it means to be 'rational' is simply too narrow and needs broadening a little. Thus, we come back to the quote at the start of this article. Irrationality, says Douglas Hofstadter, is the 'square root' - ie, the cause - of all evil. Fair enough - but how can we distinguish, once and for all, what is rational from what is irrational? A possible answer lies in Hofstadter's concept of superrationality - that is, looking outside one's own decision and taking into account the decisions of others too, and consequently making the decision that one would hope they would also make. In other words, the 'superrationalist' thinks 'globally' - in the wider interest - rather than 'locally', simply with his/her own interest in mind.
-- Douglas Hofstadter
Irrationality is the square root of all evil...
-- Douglas Hofstadter
By doing so, we find purpose and sense our significant cosmic import. By becoming "sculptors" of our world, we not only make our Universe--but the very nature of this engagement brings us into relationship with one another, with other life forms, with our planet and Cosmos. We become cosmic family, we become as branches to the Vine of the Logos.
-- Douglas Hofstadter
Our gradual awareness of this *cosmogenesis*--of which we are a part--is beginning to influence the way we think and has prompted some of us to realize our responsibility as "shapers" in this observer-participant Universe.
-- Douglas Hofstadter
I wonder in the midst of all these small revelations pouring upon us, I wonder what this Cosmos is being sculpted for? Why the Cosmos in the first place?
-- Douglas Hofstadter
All this space, all these great galactic clusters, all the millions upon millions of galaxies, all the stars and their planets surely must have meaning! We have come to realize that *information* propells the cosmic process of unfoldment. It's mathematical, bit-by-bit. It looks to be that Creation was intended.
-- Douglas Hofstadter
What of Creation, what of us? Does all this, all of us, have purpose--cosmic import?
-- Douglas Hofstadter
We also see the tremendous flare and fury that goes into the universal process. There is a constant cycle of birth and death all around, from stars to starfish. Yet Life seems to prevail under these most strenuous of conditions. Out of the great, massive death of stars comes the ingredients to form new stars and much more. The ingredients of Life float through the Universe, like pollen in the air. And sometimes Life finds an amenable environment and takes hold.
-- Douglas Hofstadter
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