Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!killer!ames!elroy!aero!venera.isi.edu!smoliar
From: smoliar@vaxa.isi.edu (Stephen Smoliar)
Newsgroups: comp.ai
Subject: Re: "Godel, Escher, Bach ..." by Douglas R. Hofstadter, figure 18
Message-ID: <6634@venera.isi.edu>
Date: 28 Oct 88 03:28:53 GMT
References: <446@soleil.UUCP>
Sender: news@venera.isi.edu
Reply-To: smoliar@vaxa.isi.edu.UUCP (Stephen Smoliar)
Organization: USC-Information Sciences Institute
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In article <446@soleil.UUCP> peru@soleil.UUCP (Dave Peru) writes:
>
>There is definitely something missing from figure 18 on p.71.  And of course
>it's not "sensible".  I haven't been a sensible person lately.  For a clue,
>look at M.C.Escher's "Liberation" or "Reptiles".  It's probably a stupid
>idea anyway.  Ignore what I say.
>
>Here's another clue:  The text you are now reading is a 2 dimensional
>representation of thoughts from the 3rd and 4th dimension.
>
Escher may be the only artist to successfully capture the three spatial
dimensions and the temporal dimension in a single two-dimensional image.
Clearly, time is missing from the illustration.  It is also missing from
much of what is written about mind, although Gerald Edelman seems to be
holding forth as a potentially viable exception.

>"Godel, Escher, Bach ..." is damaging to your mental health.  Why did Douglas
>write this book anyway.  I feel like my brain imploded.  I may never think
>normal again.  I might have to seek professional help.  There should be a
>warning label or something on the book's front cover.
>
>I might do some COBOL programming just to get back in touch with reality.
>
Some writers are born clever.  Some achieve cleverness.  Some have cleverness
thrust upon them.  The rest of them keep banging away at the word processors
like the proverbial million monkeys in the desperate hope that if they string
enough words together, eventually something clever will emerge.  If such
writers are fools, then the committees which award prizes to their products
are even greater fools, outdone only by those who admire such accolades and
think that there is merit in anything granted such an award.  Unfortunately,
this situation IS reality.  What you really want to do is escape it.  Go back
to LISP.