Godel, Escher, Bach
Whoa. From microbiology to insect colonies to number theory to musicology to computer programming and finally to AI, Hofstadter tries to explain how consciousness arises from seemingly inarticulate matter. This book was dense and it took me a long time to read, more than a month. To do it real justice I would have needed at times to sit there with a pen and paper and work out some of the puzzles he poses, but I was reading mostly in bed. Oh well. Still a really stimulating book and quite prescient, without ever using the term directly that I remember, about "emergence." In the end it wasn't as mind-blowing as its early promise, but I think that's because I was already well-prepared to receive the idea that consciousness -- defined as self-reference in a system -- arises organically from unconsciousness. Not such a strange idea these days, I don't think, although probably most people would still balk at applying it to the brain. But it's incredible to think that he wrote this in the 70's. With a few updates (e.g., computers can kick the everloving shit out of people at chess now, which he didn't think was going to happen) it would still be fresh reading if published today.
Some Hope
Manages to create a Wolfe-ian universe of hateful, contemptible characters without succumbing to the temptation to line the characters up as figurines on a table and flick them off with the middle finger (h/t Dad for the analogy). St. Aubyn has enough compassion to stay out of that trap, which I could not say about trash like A Man in Full. Bill sent me this book with a lovely note, which I'll respond to now. There's another novel in the volume about the same main character, but from quite a different perspective, which I've just started.
The Illustrated Man
Read this in about 2.5 hours on the flight back from San Francisco yesterday. Delightfully playful and imaginative; also dark and sad. Very Cold War, violent annihilation is everywhere, even in the more seemingly whimsical or happy stories.
Whoa. From microbiology to insect colonies to number theory to musicology to computer programming and finally to AI, Hofstadter tries to explain how consciousness arises from seemingly inarticulate matter. This book was dense and it took me a long time to read, more than a month. To do it real justice I would have needed at times to sit there with a pen and paper and work out some of the puzzles he poses, but I was reading mostly in bed. Oh well. Still a really stimulating book and quite prescient, without ever using the term directly that I remember, about "emergence." In the end it wasn't as mind-blowing as its early promise, but I think that's because I was already well-prepared to receive the idea that consciousness -- defined as self-reference in a system -- arises organically from unconsciousness. Not such a strange idea these days, I don't think, although probably most people would still balk at applying it to the brain. But it's incredible to think that he wrote this in the 70's. With a few updates (e.g., computers can kick the everloving shit out of people at chess now, which he didn't think was going to happen) it would still be fresh reading if published today.
Some Hope
Manages to create a Wolfe-ian universe of hateful, contemptible characters without succumbing to the temptation to line the characters up as figurines on a table and flick them off with the middle finger (h/t Dad for the analogy). St. Aubyn has enough compassion to stay out of that trap, which I could not say about trash like A Man in Full. Bill sent me this book with a lovely note, which I'll respond to now. There's another novel in the volume about the same main character, but from quite a different perspective, which I've just started.
The Illustrated Man
Read this in about 2.5 hours on the flight back from San Francisco yesterday. Delightfully playful and imaginative; also dark and sad. Very Cold War, violent annihilation is everywhere, even in the more seemingly whimsical or happy stories.
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