Metamagical Themas: Questing for the Essence of Mind and Pattern
This entertaining and provocative book presents a dazzling array of observations and ideas about how we perceive and think. Such subjects as artificial intelligence; sexist language in Chinese; experiments with the Prisoner's Dilemma; genetic evolution and its software counterpart; beautiful...
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This entertaining and provocative book presents a dazzling array of observations and ideas about how we perceive and think. Such subjects as artificial intelligence; sexist language in Chinese; experiments with the Prisoner's Dilemma; genetic evolution and its software counterpart; beautiful mathematical shapes known as 'strange attractors'; nuclear war; and even National Enquirer hoaxes are explored. Balanced between art and science, magic and logic, humor and rigor, Matamagical Themas probes the deepest paradoxes and mysteries of the human mind and heart.
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Format: paperback
ISBN:
9780553342796 (0553342797)
Publish date: May 1st 1986
Publisher: Bantam
Pages no: 580
Edition language: English
Category:
Non Fiction,
Writing,
Essays,
Humanities,
Language,
Computer Science,
Science,
Popular Science,
Philosophy,
Sociology,
Psychology,
Mathematics
An excellent follow up to his Pulitzer winning "Goedel, Escher, Bach: an eternal golden braid" Written in an essay format Dr Hofstadter delves into everything from Rubik's cube to short biographies of science greats - and all these wide ranging essays are organized into a coherent, intricately orga...
I lugged this massive book around with me for awhile during my senior year of high school. I remember finding it rambling but brilliant. I was fascinated by his essays on typography and on the subtle sexism of English honorifics like "Mrs" and "Miss".
The thing I loved about this one is the playfulness involved. Sometimes I thought my head was going to explode from the weird wonderfulness of the ideas. The two chapters on self-referential sentences were absolutely delightful. Some I recall: "It goes without saying that""Let us make a new conve...
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