Douglas Hofstadter
Douglas Hofstadter | |
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Scott A. Jones Melanie Mitchell | |
Website | cogs.sitehost.iu.edu/.. |
Douglas Richard Hofstadter (born February 15, 1945) is an American cognitive and computer scientist whose research includes concepts such as the sense of self in relation to the external world,[3][4] consciousness, analogy-making, strange loops, artificial intelligence, and discovery in mathematics and physics. His 1979 book Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid won both the Pulitzer Prize for general nonfiction[5][6] and a National Book Award (at that time called The American Book Award) for Science.[7][note 1] His 2007 book I Am a Strange Loop won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Science and Technology.[8][9][10][11]
Early life and education
Hofstadter was born in
Academic career
Since 1988, Hofstadter has been the College of Arts and Sciences
At the University of Michigan and Indiana University, he and Melanie Mitchell coauthored a computational model of "high-level perception"—Copycat—and several other models of analogy-making and cognition, including the Tabletop project, co-developed with Robert M. French.[22] The Letter Spirit project, implemented by Gary McGraw and John Rehling, aims to model artistic creativity by designing stylistically uniform "gridfonts" (typefaces limited to a grid). Other more recent models include Phaeaco (implemented by Harry Foundalis) and SeqSee (Abhijit Mahabal), which model high-level perception and analogy-making in the microdomains of Bongard problems and number sequences, respectively, as well as George (Francisco Lara-Dammer), which models the processes of perception and discovery in triangle geometry.[23][24][25]
Hofstadter has had several exhibitions of his artwork in various university galleries.[
Hofstadter collects and studies cognitive errors (largely, but not solely, speech errors), "
Hofstadter's thesis about consciousness, first expressed in
In 1999, the bicentennial year of the Russian poet and writer
Hofstadter's Law
Students
Hofstadter's former Ph.D. students[30] include (with dissertation title):
- David Chalmers – Toward a Theory of Consciousness
- Bob French – Tabletop: An Emergent, Stochastic Model of Analogy-Making
- Gary McGraw – Letter Spirit (Part One): Emergent High-level Perception of Letters Using Fluid Concepts
- Melanie Mitchell – Copycat: A Computer Model of High-Level Perception and Conceptual Slippage in Analogy-making
Public image
Hofstadter has said that he feels "uncomfortable with the nerd culture that centers on computers". He admits that "a large fraction [of his audience] seems to be those who are fascinated by technology", but when it was suggested that his work "has inspired many students to begin careers in computing and artificial intelligence" he replied that he was pleased about that, but that he himself has "no interest in computers".
Provoked by predictions of a technological singularity (a hypothetical moment in the future of humanity when a self-reinforcing, runaway development of artificial intelligence causes a radical change in technology and culture), Hofstadter has both organized and participated in several public discussions of the topic. At Indiana University in 1999 he organized such a symposium, and in April 2000, he organized a larger symposium titled "Spiritual Robots" at Stanford University, in which he moderated a panel consisting of Ray Kurzweil, Hans Moravec, Kevin Kelly, Ralph Merkle, Bill Joy, Frank Drake, John Holland and John Koza. Hofstadter was also an invited panelist at the first Singularity Summit, held at Stanford in May 2006. Hofstadter expressed doubt that the singularity will occur in the foreseeable future.[35][36][37][38][39][40]
In 1988 Dutch director Piet Hoenderdos created a docudrama about Hofstadter and his ideas, Victim of the Brain, based on The Mind's I. It includes interviews with Hofstadter about his work.[41]
Columnist
When
Personal life
Hofstadter was married to Carol Ann Brush until her death. They met in Bloomington, and married in Ann Arbor in 1985. They had two children, Danny and Monica. Carol died in 1993 from the sudden onset of a brain tumor,
In 2010, Hofstadter met Baofen Lin in a cha-cha-cha class, and they married in Bloomington in September 2012.[46][47]
Hofstadter has composed pieces for piano and for piano and voice. He created an audio CD, DRH/JJ, of these compositions performed mostly by pianist Jane Jackson, with a few performed by Brian Jones, Dafna Barenboim, Gitanjali Mathur, and Hofstadter.[48]
The dedication for I Am A Strange Loop is: "To my sister Laura, who can understand, and to our sister Molly, who cannot."[49] Hofstadter explains in the preface that his younger sister Molly never developed the ability to speak or understand language.[50]
As a consequence of his attitudes about consciousness and empathy, Hofstadter became a vegetarian in his teenage years, and has remained primarily so since that time.[51][52]
In popular culture
In the 1982 novel 2010: Odyssey Two, Arthur C. Clarke's first sequel to 2001: A Space Odyssey, HAL 9000 is described by the character "Dr. Chandra" as being caught in a "Hofstadter–Möbius loop". The movie uses the term "H. Möbius loop".
On April 3, 1995, Hofstadter's book
Published works
Books
The books published by Hofstadter are (the ISBNs refer to paperback editions, where available):
- ISBN 0-465-02656-7) (1979)
- ISBN 0-465-04566-9) (collection of Scientific American columns and other essays, all with postscripts)
- Ambigrammi: un microcosmo ideale per lo studio della creatività (ISBN 88-7757-006-7) (in Italian only)
- ISBN 0-465-02475-0)
- Rhapsody on a Theme by Clement Marot (ISBN 0-910153-11-6) (1995, published 1996; volume 16 of series The Grace A. Tanner Lecture in Human Values)
- ISBN 0-465-08645-4)
- ISBN 0-465-03078-5) (2007)
- Surfaces and Essences: Analogy as the Fuel and Fire of Thinking, co-authored with Emmanuel Sander (ISBN 0-465-01847-5) (first published in French as L'Analogie. Cœur de la pensée; published in English in the U.S. in April 2013)
Papers
Hofstadter has written, among many others, the following papers:
- "Energy levels and wave functions of Bloch electrons in rational and irrational magnetic fields", Phys. Rev. B 14 (1976) 2239.
- "A non-deterministic approach to analogy, involving the Ising model of ferromagnetism", in Eduardo Caianiello(ed.), The Physics of Cognitive Processes. Teaneck, NJ: World Scientific, 1987.
- "To Err is Human; To Study Error-making is Cognitive Science" (co-authored by David J. Moser), Michigan Quarterly Review, Vol. XXVIII, No. 2, 1989, pp. 185–215.
- "Speechstuff and thoughtstuff: Musings on the resonances created by words and phrases via the subliminal perception of their buried parts", in Sture Allen (ed.), Of Thoughts and Words: The Relation between Language and Mind. Proceedings of the Nobel Symposium 92, London/New Jersey: World Scientific Publ., 1995, 217–267.
- "On seeing A's and seeing As", Stanford Humanities Review Vol. 4, No. 2 (1995) pp. 109–121.
- "Analogy as the Core of Cognition", republished by Stanford University Libraries from Bradford Book, 2001, pp. 499–538.
Hofstadter has also written over 50 papers that were published through the Center for Research on Concepts and Cognition.[54]
Involvement in other books
Hofstadter has written forewords for or edited the following books:
- ISBN 0-553-34584-2)
- Inversions, by ISBN 1-55953-280-7)
- Alan Turing: The Enigma by Andrew Hodges, 1983. (Preface)
- ISBN 0-262-11132-2)
- Are Quanta Real? A Galilean Dialogue by J.M. Jauch, Indiana University Press, 1989. (Foreword) (ISBN 0-253-20545-X)
- Gödel's Proof (2002 revised edition) by ISBN 0-8147-5816-9)
- Who Invented the Computer? The Legal Battle That Changed Computing History by Alice Rowe Burks, 2003. (Foreword)
- Alan Turing: Life and Legacy of a Great Thinker by Christof Teuscher, 2003. (editor)
- Brainstem Still Life by ISBN 981-05-1662-2)
- Masters of Deception: Escher, Dalí & the Artists of Optical Illusion by Al Seckel, 2004. (Foreword)
- King of Infinite Space: Donald Coxeter, the Man Who Saved Geometry by Siobhan Roberts, Walker and Company, 2006. (Foreword)
- Exact Thinking in Demented Times: The Vienna Circle and the Epic Quest for the Foundations of Science by Karl Sigmund, Basic Books, 2017. Hofstadter wrote the foreword and helped with the translation.
- To Light the Flame of Reason: Clear Thinking for the Twenty-First Century by Christopher Sturmark, Prometheus, 2022. (Foreword and Contributions)
Translations
- ISBN 0-465-02094-1)
- ISBN 978-0-8478-3109-8)
- ISBN 978-0-465-01098-1)
See also
Notes
- ^ Gödel, Escher, Bach won the 1980 award for hardcover science.
References
- American Academy of Achievement.
- ^ ProQuest 288009604.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-465-03079-8.
- S2CID 46972278.
- ^ "General Nonfiction" Archived February 26, 2012, at the Wayback Machine. Past winners and finalists by category. The Pulitzer Prizes. Retrieved March 17, 2012.
- ^ A bedside book of paradoxes Archived March 26, 2017, at the Wayback Machine, New York Times
- ^ "National Book Awards – 1980" Archived August 13, 2014, at the Wayback Machine. National Book Foundation. Retrieved March 7, 2012.
- ^ "And the L.A. Times Book Prize winners are..." Los Angeles Times. April 26, 2008. Retrieved April 10, 2023.
- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on April 5, 2013. Retrieved September 25, 2012.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link). Events.latimes.com (November 22, 1963). Retrieved on 2013-10-06. - ^ Douglas Hofstadter at DBLP Bibliography Server
- ^ Douglas Hofstadter's publications indexed by the Scopus bibliographic database. (subscription required)
- ^ Stanford News Service,Nancy Hofstadter, widow of Nobel laureate in physics, dead at 87 Archived March 24, 2012, at the Wayback Machine, August 17, 2007.
- ^ .
- ^ "Center for Research on Concepts and Cognition: Indiana University Bloomington". Archived from the original on April 11, 2018. Retrieved April 30, 2016.
- ^ IU pages as faculty Archived December 31, 2003, at the Wayback Machine, IU distinguished faculty Archived February 25, 2004, at the Wayback Machine (see this announcement Archived December 16, 2007, at the Wayback Machine on March 21, 2007 speaker Archived December 16, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ A Day in the Life of ... Douglas Hofstadter Archived December 30, 2007, at the Wayback Machine 2004
- ^ a b Seminar: AI: Hope and Hype Archived June 6, 2007, at the Wayback Machine 1999
- ^ Shore, Lys Ann (1988). "New Light on the New Age CSICOP's Chicago conference was the first to critically evaluate the New Age movement". The Skeptical Inquirer. 13 (#3): 226–235.
- ^ "American Academy of Arts & Sciences". Archived from the original on July 28, 2012. Retrieved April 30, 2016.
- ^ "Home - American Philosophical Society". Archived from the original on April 29, 2016. Retrieved April 30, 2016.
- ^ Center for Research on Concepts and Cognition: Indiana University Bloomington Archived June 26, 1997, at the Wayback Machine. Cogsci.indiana.edu. Retrieved on October 6, 2013.
- ^ An overview of Metacat Archived August 18, 2007, at the Wayback Machine 2003
- ^ By Analogy: A talk with the most remarkable researcher in artificial intelligence today, Douglas Hofstadter, the author of Gödel, Escher, Bach Archived December 9, 2013, at the Wayback Machine Wired Magazine, November 1995
- ^ Analogy as the Core of Cognition Archived April 11, 2008, at the Wayback Machine Review of Stanford lecture, February 2, 2006
- ^ Center for Research on Concepts and Cognition Archived May 26, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Hofstadter, Douglas, To Err is Human; to Study Error-making is Cognitive Science. Together with David Moser. Michigan Quarterly Review, Vol. XXVIII, No. 2, 1989, pp. 185–215.
- ^ Consciousness In The Cosmos: Perspective of Mind: Douglas Hofstadter Archived August 4, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Hofstadter, Douglas R. Le Ton Beau de Marot. New York: Basic Books, 1997, pp. 16–17.
- ^ Hofstadter, Douglas R. Le Ton Beau de Marot, Chapter "How Jolly the Lot of an Oligoglot", New York: Basic Books, 1997, pp. 15–62.
- ^ "People at the CRCC". The Center for Research on Concepts and Cognition. Archived from the original on February 22, 2014. Retrieved February 18, 2014.
- ^ "Me, My Soul, and I". Wired. March 2007. Archived from the original on September 29, 2007. Retrieved December 10, 2007.
- ^ The Mind Reader Archived March 1, 2017, at the Wayback Machine, New York Times Magazine, April 1, 2007
- ^ Mean Chess-Playing Computer Tears at Meaning of Thought Archived March 17, 2015, at Wikiwix by Bruce Weber, February 19, 1996, New York Times
- ^ Hofstadter, Douglas (1985). Metamagical Themas (PDF). p. 9. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 12, 2018. Retrieved December 19, 2018.
- ^ "Will Spiritual Robots Replace Humanity By 2100?", April 1, 2000 Note: as of 2007, videos seem to be missing.
- ^ "Moore's Law, Artificial Evolution, and the Fate of Humanity." In L. Booker, S. Forrest, et al. (eds.), Perspectives on Adaptation in Natural and Artificial Systems. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003.
- ^ The Singularity Summit at Stanford Archived October 18, 2007, at the Wayback Machine 2006
- ^ Trying to Muse Rationally about the Singularity Scenario Archived March 30, 2008, at the Wayback Machine 35 minute video, May 13, 2006
- ^ Quotes from his 2006 Singularity Summit presentation Archived December 28, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Staring EMI Straight in the Eye—and Doing My Best Not to Flinch." In David Cope, Virtual Music: Computer Synthesis of Musical Style, Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2001.
- ^ Victim of the Brain Archived August 17, 2007, at the Wayback Machine – 1988 docudrama about the ideas of Douglas Hofstadter
- ^ Online implementation of his Reviews of this Book idea Archived January 7, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ A Person Paper on Purity in Language Archived May 16, 2015, at the Wayback Machine by William Satire (alias Douglas R. Hofstadter), 1985 – a satirical piece, on the subject of sexist language
- ^ Metamagical Themas, Douglas R. Hofstadter, Basic Books, New York (1985), see preface, introduction, contents listing.
- ^ French and Italian Archived December 12, 2007, at the Wayback Machine Spring 1996, Vol. X
- ^ "Search".[permanent dead link]
- ^ Rachael Himsel (November 2013). "Falling in Love, With Panache". The Ryder. Retrieved September 1, 2023.
- ISBN 1-57677-143-1
- ^ Hofstadter, Douglas R. I Am a Strange Loop, p. v. Basic Books, 2007.
- ^ Hofstadter, Douglas R. I Am a Strange Loop, p. xi. Basic Books, 2007. "No one knew what it was, but Molly wasn't able to understand language or to speak (nor is she to this day, and we never did find out why)."
- ^ Gardner, Martin (August 2007). "Do Loops Explain Consciousness? Review of I Am a Strange Loop" (PDF). Notices of the American Mathematical Society. 54 (#7): 853. Archived (PDF) from the original on February 16, 2008. Retrieved December 10, 2007.
- ^ Hofstadter, Douglas (2007). I Am a Strange Loop. Basic Books. pp. 13–14.
- ^ McCullough, Brian (April 3, 2015). "What Was The First Item Ever Ordered On Amazon?". Retrieved August 6, 2021.
- ^ "Center for Research on Concepts and Cognition: Indiana University Bloomington". Archived from the original on June 20, 2004. Retrieved May 27, 2004. CRCC Publications offline
External links
- Stanford University Presidential Lecture – site dedicated to Hofstadter and his work
- Douglas Hofstadter at DBLP Bibliography Server
- "The Man Who Would Teach Machines to Think" by James Somers, The Atlantic, November 2013 issue
- Profile at Resonance Publications
- NF Reviews – bibliographic page with reviews of several of Hofstadter's books
- "Autoportrait with Constraint" – a short autobiography in the form of a lipogram
- Github repo of sourcecode & literature of Hofstadter's students work
- Douglas Hofstadter on the Literature Map
- Works by or about Douglas Hofstadter at Internet Archive