[MD] I Am a Strange Loop

[ian glendinning]

Nice one Arlo, joining up a few dots just for completeness, since
these are things I keep referencing too,

I always saw wonderful Pirsigian symmetry between Magritte (in
Einstein Meets Margitte) and Esher (Godel Esher Bach) - so many
writers (in the sciences of consciousness) seem to borrow those same
artistic allusions / illusions. As you say we need to "invite them
in".

The "incompleteness" is the Godel connection in the title, and

Those self-referential sentences, are the "Quines" I keep referring to.

That breakdown of applying dialectic to dialectic is effectively my
Catch-22 - (Platt, I CANNOT win an argument with you on your basis -
axiomatic fact) - I hadn't recollected quite such an explicit
reference by Pirsig in ZMM. Thanks for pointing that out.

Ian

>
> [Arlo]
> My "connection" between Hofstadter and Pirsig derived from their view that
> "analysis", when turned on itself, seems to destroy the very foundation of
> itself. Specifically, in Pirsig, when you subject "scientific methodology" TO
> "scientific methodology", or "dialectic method" TO "dialectic method", when you
> hypothesize ABOUT hypotheses, there is a breakdown, an unavoidable
> incompleteness to where you can go.
>
> "Phædrus' break occurred when, as a result of laboratory experience, he
> became interested in hypotheses as entities in themselves. ... He coined a law
> intended to have the humor of a Parkinson's law that "The number of rational
> hypotheses that can explain any given phenomenon is infinite." ... If true,
> that law is not a minor flaw in scientific reasoning. The law is completely
> nihilistic. It is a catastrophic logical disproof of the general validity of
> all scientific method!" (ZMM)
>
> "Once it's stated that "the dialectic comes before anything else," this
> statement itself becomes a dialectical entity, subject to dialectical question.
> ... Here is this dialectic, like Newton's law of gravity, just sitting by
> itself in the middle of nowhere, giving birth to the universe, hey? It's
> asinine." (ZMM)
>
> Hofstadter examines this from the standpoint of self-referentiality in
> mathematics, and is able to extend this to language (as it is a symbol system)
> in general. That is, symbol systems are great for pointing outside themselves,
> but when you introduce self-referentiality you begin creating recusion, paradox
> and "strange loops". Cases in point, Epimenides Paradox, "This statement is
> false" and the Star Trek robot-frying "Everything I say is a lie".
>
> Paradox, recursion, self-referentiality, "strange loops" reveal the Esherian
> landscape around us. They are our friends, we shouldn't ignore them, we should
> invite them in for tea (white, red or green).
>
> Thanks for brining this new book to our attention, Platt!
>
>
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