Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid

By: Douglas R. Hofstadter

Published 1999 by Basic Books (first published 1979)

Category: Arts

Pages: 777 pages

ISBN: 9780465026562

Description:
Douglas Hofstadter's book is concerned directly with the nature of “maps” or links between formal systems. However, according to Hofstadter, the formal system that underlies all mental activity transcends the system that supports it. If life can grow out of the formal chemical substrate of the cell, if consciousness can emerge out of a formal system of firing neurons, then so too will computers attain human intelligence. Gödel, Escher, Bach is a wonderful exploration of fascinating ideas at the heart of cognitive science: meaning, reduction, recursion, and much more.