Fluid Concepts and Creative Analogies: Computer Models Of The Fundamental Mechanisms Of Thought

Readers of earlier works by Douglas Hofstadter will find this book a natural extension of his style and his ideas about creativity and analogy; in addition, psychologists, philosophers, and artificial-intelligence researchers will find in this elaborate web of ingenious ideas a deep and challenging new view of mind. Since 1977, Hofstadter, the author of Godel, Escher, Bach, and his students have been developing computer models of discovery, creation, and analogical thought. What has emerged is a sophisticated and unorthodox vision of the mind in which perception, at an abstract level, is the key: perception of situations, of patterns, of patterns among patterns. This book conveys this bold vision to a broad public. Illustrations. Since 1977, Douglas R. Hofstadter and his graduate students at Indiana University and the University of Michigan have been developing computer models of discovery, creation, and analogical thought. What has emerged is a sophisticated and unorthodox vision of the mind in which perception, at an abstract level, is the key : perception of situations, of patterns, of patterns among patterns, even perception of one's perceptions. Fluid Concepts and Creative Analogies conveys this bold vision to a broad public as well as to cognitive scientists In 1977, I began my new career as a professor of computer science, aiming to specialize in the field of artificial intelligence.