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

From some of the 20th century's greatest thinkers, essays on topics as diverse as artificial intelligence, evolution, science fiction, philosophy, reductionism, and consciousness 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. Douglas Hofstadter - The Minds I Preface & Introduction......Page 2 Douglas Hofstadter - The Minds I Chapter 01 Borges and I - Jorge Luis Borges......Page 17 Douglas Hofstadter - The Minds I Chapter 02 On Having No Head - D E Harding......Page 21 Douglas Hofstadter - The Minds I Chapter 03 Rediscovering the Mind - Harold J Horowitz......Page 32 Douglas Hofstadter - The Minds I Chapter 04 Computing Machinery and Intelligence - A M Turing......Page 48 Douglas Hofstadter - The Minds I Chapter 05 A Coffeehouse Conversation - Douglas R Hofstadter......Page 64 Douglas Hofstadter - The Minds I Chapter 06 The Princess Ineffabelle - Stalislaw Lem......Page 91 Douglas Hofstadter - The Minds I Chapter 07 The Soul of Martha a Beast - Terrel Miedaner......Page 95 Douglas Hofstadter - The Minds I Chapter 08 The Soul of the Mark III Beast - Terrel Miedaner......Page 104 Douglas Hofstadter - The Minds I Chapter 09 Spirit - Allen Wheelis......Page 111 Douglas Hofstadter - The Minds I Chapter 10 Selfish Genes and Selfish Memes - Richard Dawkins......Page 116 Douglas Hofstadter - The Minds I Chapter 11 Prelude - Ant Fugue - Douglas Hofstadter......Page 139 Douglas Hofstadter - The Minds I Chapter 12 THe Story of a Brain - Arnold Zuboof......Page 193 Douglas Hofstadter - The Minds I Chapter 13 Where am I - Daniel C Dennett......Page 205 Douglas Hofstadter - The Minds I Chapter 14 Where was I - David Hawley Sanford......Page 220 Douglas Hofstadter - The Minds I Chapter 15 Beyond Rejection - Jusatin Leiber......Page 230 Douglas Hofstadter - The Minds I Chapter 16 Software - Rudy Rucker......Page 241 Douglas Hofstadter - The Minds I Chapter 17 The Riddle on the Universe and its Solution - Christopher Cherniak......Page 257 Douglas Hofstadter - The Minds I Chapter 18 The Seventh dally or How Trurl's Own Perfection Led to No Good - Stanislaw Lem......Page 272 Douglas Hofstadter - The Minds I Chapter 19 Non Serviam - Stanislaw Lem......Page 281 Douglas Hofstadter - The Minds I Chapter 20 Is God a Taoist - Raymond Smullyan......Page 306 Douglas Hofstadter - The Minds I Chapter 21 The Circular Ruins - Jorge Luis Borges......Page 329 Douglas Hofstadter - The Minds I Chapter 22 Minds, Brains and Programs - John Searle......Page 338 Douglas Hofstadter - The Minds I Chapter 23 An Unfortunate Dualist - Raymond M. Smullyan......Page 368 Douglas Hofstadter - The Minds I Chapter 24 What Is It Like to Be a Bat - Thomas Nagel......Page 374 Douglas Hofstadter - The Minds I Chapter 25 An Epistemological Nightmare - Raymond M. Smullyan......Page 398 Douglas Hofstadter - The Minds I Chapter 26 A Conversation with Einstein's Brain - Douglas R. Hofstadter......Page 413 Douglas Hofstadter - The Minds I Chapter 27 Fiction - Robert Nozick......Page 444 Douglas Hofstadter - The Minds I Further Reading......Page 448 Douglas Hofstadter - The Minds I Index......Page 467 Brilliant, shattering, mind-jolting, The Mind's I is a searching, probing nook—a cosmic journey of the mind—that goes deeply into the problem of self and self-consciousness as anything written in our time. From verbalizing chimpanzees to scientific speculations involving machines with souls, from the mesmerizing, maze-like fiction of Borges to the tantalizing, dreamlike fiction of Lem and Princess Ineffable, her circuits glowing read and gold, The Mind's I opens the mind to the Black Box of fantasy, to the windfalls of reflection, to new dimensions of exciting possibilities.

"Ever since David Hume declared in the 18th century that the Self is only a heap of perceptions, the poor Ego has been in a shaky conditions indeed...Mind and consciousness becomes dispensable items in our accounts of reality, ghosts in the bodily machine...Yet there are indications here and there that the tide may be tuming...and the appearance of The Mind's I, edited by Douglas R. Hofstadter and Daniel C. Dennett, seems a welcome sign of change.'—William Barrett, The New York Times Book Review

Brilliant, shattering, mind-jolting, The Mind's I is a searching, probing cosmic journey of the mind that goes deeply into the problem of self and self-consciousness as anything written in our time. From verbalizing chimpanzees to scientific speculations involving machines with souls, from the mesmerizing, maze-like fiction of Borges to the tantalizing, dreamlike fiction of Lem and Princess Ineffable, her circuits glowing read and gold, The Mind's I opens the mind to the Black Box of fantasy, to the windfalls of reflection, to new dimensions of exciting possibilities. "Ever since David Hume declared in the 18th century that the Self is only a heap of perceptions, the poor Ego has been in a shaky conditions indeed...Mind and consciousness becomes dispensable items in our accounts of reality, ghosts in the bodily machine...Yet there are indications here and there that the tide may be tuming...and the appearance of The Mind's I , edited by Douglas R. Hofstadter and Daniel C. Dennett, seems a welcome sign of change." William Barrett, The New York Times Book Review