Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid

Forty-three years before concerns about artificial intelligence (AI) and the nature of consciousness dominated the news cycle with the launch of ChatGPT in 2022, and 26 years before Ray Kurzweil wrote The Singularity is Near, Douglas Hofstadter posited that human cognition could be understood through a formal set of mathematical systems in his work Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid. However, as AI became singularly focused on accomplishing tasks, Hofstadter grew obsolete in the field.

This was partially intentional. Hofstadter distinguishes his focus on consciousness from AI models, or what Hofstadter calls “machine learning.” He is skeptical about the ability of AI to match human cognition, something he views as far more complex, creative, and collaborative than the prescriptive models generated thus far.

Hofstadter argues for the role of experience in consciousness, and he uses himself as a subject of study. While traveling across the continent as a doctoral student, Hofstadter found himself repeatedly getting lost thinking about thinking itself. It is a practice he never gave up. The scientist continues to fill journals with documentation of his own mental fumbles and malaphors, the accidental blending of two idioms such as “It’s not rocket surgery.” Hofstadter insists there is significance in the data of his own human errors.

Phenomenology is the study of conscious experience. German philosopher Johann Heinrich Lambert coined the term in the 18th century, but it was popularized by Edmund Husserl in the 19th century. Hofstadter blends science, art, math, and philosophy to explore thinking itself, emphasizing the myriad connections that reflect and impact conscious experience. Phenomenology turns the eye inward, applying thinking processes to ask questions about cognition: What is consciousness? How do we experience the world and make meaning? What does it mean to be collectively conscious?

Hofstadter utilizes an ant colony analogy to illustrate the complexity of consciousness. Individual ants operate according to simple systems. The interactions, communications, and intellectual abilities of ants are limited to a straightforward, fixed set of rules. However, complex intelligent behavior emerges when the ant participates in the collective life of the colony. By solving problems and facing predators within a community, ants exhibit a collective, highly intelligent form of cognition. Hofstadter’s analogy emphasizes his association of consciousness with experience and the complex web of interactions that construct it. A thought on its own is immaterial. Just as the ants’ consciousness is defined by its participation in a collective whole, a thought’s worth is derived from its connection to other thoughts.

Hofstadter’s scientific approach and methodology is unique for its blending of various fields to explore phenomenology. Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid demonstrates the benefit of weaving disciplines together to formulate singular ideas. In combining music, math, art, philosophy, theology, and science, Hofstadter seeks patterns that might unlock the nature of human experience. This holistic approach is part of the larger field of interdisciplinary study, which combines ideas from multiple disciplines to explore complex questions.

Interdisciplinary study finds its roots in Greek philosophy, which blended science, art, aesthetics, math, and other disciplines to explore questions. Other major contributors to interdisciplinary studies are Edward O. Wilson, who explored nature and epistemology; Steven Pinker, who blends mental imagery with linguistics, evolutionary psychology, and epistemology; and Italian Renaissance painter Leonardo da Vinci, who approached disciplines as parts of a connected whole.

Hofstadter is a committed reflective learner. By embracing an interdisciplinary approach, Hofstadter models his methodology after his understanding of consciousness as something intricate, entangled, and worthy of academic attention. In his process of reflection, he continues to examine and re-examine his ideas and values. In a 2023 podcast interview, Hofstadter said his feelings about AI were changing, and he believed it would soon exceed human cognition (“Doug Hofstadter: Reflections on AI.” Getting2Alpha, 29 June 2023).