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In this unique, mind-jolting book, Douglas Hofstadter, the
author of Godel, Escher, Bach, the intellectual best-seller that won the
1980 Pulitzer Prize, and philosopher Daniel Dennett, author of the widely acclaimed
Brainstorms, explore the meaning of self and consciousness through the
perspectives of literature, artificial intelligence, psychology, and much more.
What -- if anything -- is the soul? Here is a book that goes
as deeply into the problem of self and self-consciousness as anything written
before. But instead of dreary, jargon-filled arguments, the reader will encounter
strange thought experiments, mind-boggling fantasies, and humorous dialogues,
all designed to entice the imagination into new and unexpected places. In selections
that range from the fiction of Borges and Stanislaw Lem to scientific speculations
about thinking machines, artificial intelligence, and the nature of the brain,
Hofstadter and Dennett present a variety of conflicting visions of the self and
the soul, each with its own truth and dangerous simplifications. This
remarkable book has something to upset everyone -- the hard-nosed materialist
as well as the believer in spirits and reincarnation. But, like Godel, Escher,
Bach and Brainstorms, it is a work of both art and science that will
instruct, charm and delight for years to come. Douglas
R. Hofstadter is Associate Professor of Computer Science at Indiana University
and writes the "Metamagical Themas" column in Scientific American. Daniel
C. Dennett is Professor of Philosophy at Tufts University. He has recently served
as President of the Society for Philosophy and Psychology. |
