The Mind's I : fantasies and reflections on self and soul

by Douglas R. Hofstadter

Paper Book, 1981

Status

Available

Call number

126

Collection

Publication

Toronto ; New York : Bantam Books, 1982, c1981.

Description

With contributions from Jorge Luis Borges, Richard Dawkins, John Searle, and Robert Nozick, The Mind's I explores the meaning of self and consciousness through the perspectives of literature, artificial intelligence, psychology, and other disciplines. In selections that range from fiction 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 as explored through the writings of some of the twentieth century's most renowned thinkers.

Media reviews

More philosophical fun and games, some of a very high order, from the authors of, respectively, Godel, Escher, Bach, and Brainstorms. Actually, this is an anthology, and there are some 17 other contributors, but Hofstadter and Dennett take turns commenting on all 27 pieces, so they can claim to
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have "composed and arranged" it. (...) The writing is without exception polished or at least clear and readable, the topic is steadily interesting, and the dialectical fireworks make a fascinating spectacle.
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User reviews

LibraryThing member GreyHead
From Fluid Concepts and Creative Analogies I was led back to the copy of The Mind’s I that had stood unread (and thought unapproachable) for several years.

This composition and arrangement (their words) by Hofstadter and Dennett brings together two of the foremost thinkers and explorers of ideas
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about consciousness and thus about subjective experience. Whilst Hofstadter, as we have seen, approaches from the perspective of Artificial Intelligence (with added philosophy), Dennett leads from the philosophical perspective (his Consciousness Explained is briefly reviewed here).

The book is in six sections: A Sense of Self; Soul Searching; From Hardware to Software; Mind as Program; Created Selves and Free Will; The Inner Eye. Each section has a handful of essays or extracts illuminating the topic of the section followed by brief reflections by one of the two arrangers.

The purpose of the book is, I believe, to enlarge the map of thought in this area and gently provoke the testing of assumptions, beliefs and values. In this ambition I think you will find it succeeds and, as an added bonus, many of the selections are quite delightful on their own rights. Good reading for an autumn evening or six.
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LibraryThing member P_S_Patrick
I picked up this book partly because I found Goedel, Escher, Bach a brilliant read, and partly because I find the subject of consciousness interesting in itself.
This book features numerous articles and excerpts from a wide array of authors, including Jorge Luis Borges, Alan Turing, Richard
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Dawkins, and a number of less well known (outside computer science) intellects. These passages all have some relevance to the topics of "Self", "Soul", "Consciousness", and "Free Will", and the pieces are each analysed by one or both of the editors. I found quite a few of these to be worth while reading, and some were very interesting and enlightening. There were a few that were excercises in idiocy, and ultimately a waste of time to read, with the simple point they were trying to illustrate being obvious from the start. Also large excerpts from GEB and the Selfish Gene were present, which was annoying as I already have them and have read them within recent memory, though readers unfamiliar with these works should not mind this, and to be fair GEB would bear re-reading more than most books.
On the whole I found the opinions of the editors and articles to be too close to the strong AI position, with the brain frequently being assumed analogous in structure to a digital computer, and mappable. I am glad I have read Roger Penrose's books on consciousness ,(which are not as readable as this by the way ) , otherwise I may well have been swept along with these views and their otherwise unavoidable implications. A frequently made assumption of this book is that the brain is identically mappable, (thus preserving self), though there is currently no reason to believe it is, with accurate quantum measurements not ever being possible under current theory. This makes a lot of the articles seem irrelevent to reality, though, never the less interesting. Overall, depsite this, it is an interesting read, and there is a lot in it of worth. It is a longish book, but the type is large enough, and it didn't take me that long to get through it. It will disappoint those expecting another must-read like Goedel, Esher, Bach, but for others less picky it should make do.
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LibraryThing member _Greg
A delightful and enlightening collection of essays on the philosophy of consciousness and being. It was a series of revelations to me when I first read it in my 20's. Highly recommended.
LibraryThing member NielsenGW
Neither Douglas Hofstadter nor Daniel Dennett are easy writers to read quickly. Dennett’s Darwin’s Dangerous Idea and Hofstadter’s Surfaces and Essences are two of the most demanding books I’ve picked up in the recent past. Luckily, in The Mind’s I, an effort that combines both their
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talents, they find a way to better let their readers in. This book looks at the philosophical concept of the self—how a mind views itself—through the writings of other people. Hofstadter and Dennett use historic and imaginative accounts written by Jorge Luis Borges, Alan Turing, Richard Dawkins, and many others as points of reflection from which they can get into their intended philosophical discussions. This helps accomplish two very interesting goals: pointing the reader towards other authors they might not have known before and helping the reader through some of the more complex thought experiments surrounding the concept of the self. All throughout the book there are smatterings of philosophy, fiction, physics, and even free will. They manage to steer clear of the more tautological loops that philosophy sometimes falls in to, and in the end, arrange a very good book that makes the reader think deeply without straining themselves. An intense but intriguing read.
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LibraryThing member Clueless
I love the story of 'the man with no head.' Thought provoking. Wonderful!
LibraryThing member AlexTheHunn
Hofstadter verges on brilliance. His Godel, Escher, Bach is among my top 1 or 2 books ever. In this work he continues his themes of intelligence and identity.
LibraryThing member robertg69
an anthology composed & arranged by Hofstadter and Dennett
LibraryThing member MichaelGalt
While gaining familiarity with this library 'thing' site I decided to write a review- okay, let's say a quasi-review. This book "The Mind's Eye" awakened a memory of my high school senior English teacher, Imants Gailis, (I love that name) who gave me this book to read back in '81 I think. I
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remember reading it on a bus trip traveling back home to visit my mom; I also remember the bus driver being an overbearing buffoon toward me for no reason other than to assert his status as the captain of his 'ship' and stated among other things "Don't make any waves, you shit kid you hear me!?". I think it had something to do with the school uniform I was wearing; he must have had a hard time with one of my ole school chums, who knows, whatever.. So anyway, the book isn't that fresh in my 'mind's eye' but I do remember it leaving a highly enlightened impression on me- of myself. I will have to read it again to offer a review with any actual insight however; I just felt like writing about something that's still flickering from within my 'mind's eye'. Forgive the puns, couldn't help it, and, oh, by the way, I would've given it 4 1/2 stars but haven't figured out how yet.
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LibraryThing member georgeslacombe
I recommend to anyone who is starting in AI area.
LibraryThing member KirkLowery
Since I don't hold to the author's views about consciousness -- or the possibility of algorithmic self-awareness -- this book's ideas are not compelling. Instead, I recommend that after reading Hofstadter's Gödel, Escher and Bach one read Roger Penrose's The Emperor's New Mind and also his Shadows
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of the Mind. I'm biased. I admit it. One of the curses of self-awareness. ;-)
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LibraryThing member mrgan
An excellent collection of writings of all sorts, with brief but insightful comments from Hofstadter and Dennett.
LibraryThing member farrhon
Fun, now dated.
LibraryThing member steve02476
A lot of good stuff here, but as a collection from many different writers it's not exactly coherent.

Language

Original publication date

1981

Physical description

vii, 501 p.; 23 cm

ISBN

0553345842 / 9780553345841

Local notes

FB Collection of essays by Stanislaw Lem, Richard Dawkins, Jorge Luis Borges and others.
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