the Golden Braid
Had today off from work. Was nice to sleep.. Didn't do much else though. Went to Borders and read some of 'Godel Escher Bach - An Eternal Golden Braid' by Douglas R. Hofstadter. I looked up this book in 2002 but didn't really understand much of it. I'm pleased to say that I understood it now. I think I had a dream about it two days ago where I described it as "obtuse." Whenever I dream about things as specific as books, I tend to consider reading said book... Anyway, the premise deals with "Strange Loops" and Hofstadter's thesis is that these inanimate loops are what lead to the creation of animate life when the loops meet a certain criteria. What's funny is that I'm also reading 'Foucalt's Pendulum' by Umberto Eco right now, and there were a few lines in there that remind me very much of GEB. For instance, Eco writes that credulity is nothing more than trying to find the thread between two seperate ideas that one believes in, and there is a part where the young editor is talking to the older editor when he first meets him at a bar and they refer to the age old Cretan dilemna:
Epimenides, A Cretan man, says to you, "All Cretans are liars."
oooo
Anyway, this is what Hofstadter refers to as a "one-step Strange Loop."
He goes on to say that many of MC Escher's paintings are variants on the Strange Loops, with his famous Waterfall painting being a Six-Step Loop.
He also references Bach's fugues, primarily the 'Musical Offering' fugue he composed for Frederick the Great. This contained a fugue that was supposedly infinite, and this interested Hofstadter greatly, and ties Bach in with Escher.
The crux of the book is Kurt Godel's famous concept of incompleteness, which can be considered the Epimenides statement of mathmatics.
"This theorum has no proof..."
Okay, I suppose that's enough about this book... It's pretty interesting though :D
Foucalt's Pendulum is also VERY similar in principle, and already has introduced some great quotes, such as:
"He who attempts to penetrate the Rose Garden of the Philosopher's without a key resembles a man who would walk without feet."
- Michael Maier.
Conclusion:
I'm hella bored :P
Epimenides, A Cretan man, says to you, "All Cretans are liars."
oooo
Anyway, this is what Hofstadter refers to as a "one-step Strange Loop."
He goes on to say that many of MC Escher's paintings are variants on the Strange Loops, with his famous Waterfall painting being a Six-Step Loop.
He also references Bach's fugues, primarily the 'Musical Offering' fugue he composed for Frederick the Great. This contained a fugue that was supposedly infinite, and this interested Hofstadter greatly, and ties Bach in with Escher.
The crux of the book is Kurt Godel's famous concept of incompleteness, which can be considered the Epimenides statement of mathmatics.
"This theorum has no proof..."
Okay, I suppose that's enough about this book... It's pretty interesting though :D
Foucalt's Pendulum is also VERY similar in principle, and already has introduced some great quotes, such as:
"He who attempts to penetrate the Rose Garden of the Philosopher's without a key resembles a man who would walk without feet."
- Michael Maier.
Conclusion:
I'm hella bored :P