Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid 🪢
Last modified on May 16, 2022
TODO: write about the passage where Hofstadter challenges the idea that Symbols get their meaning when we look at them. – perhaps if we sent symbols to an alien species and they were able to decipher it, then some symbols could have universal meaning??
M-mode vs. I-mode.
Go look up the MU puzzle.
Links to “Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid 🪢”
♾ recursion (recursive editing reminds me of Hofstadter’s pushing and popping allegory.)
Links to “GEB”
♾ recursion (recursive editing reminds me of Hofstadter’s pushing and popping allegory.)
Links to “M-mode vs. I-mode.”
The Cybernetic Manifesto
The way they describe knowledge systems is very similar to the way certain philosophers approach computational systems – they only have meaning relative to an observer. Symbols get their meaning when we look at them.
When a number of systems become integrated so that a new level of control emerges, we say that a metasystem has formed. We refer to this process as a metasystem transition.
A metasystem transition is, by definition, a creative act. It cannot be solely directed by the internal structure or logic of a system, but must always comes from outside causes, from “above”.
Feels related to the “I”-mode and “M”-mode discussion in M-mode vs. I-mode.