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http://www.evl.uic.edu/swami/crabcanon
My favorite prelude in Godel Escher Bach.
--
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
"Coding without comments is like
driving without turn signals."
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On 30/06/2011 10:55 PM, Darren New wrote:
> http://www.evl.uic.edu/swami/crabcanon
>
> My favorite prelude in Godel Escher Bach.
My a startling coincidence, last week I opened GEB on a random page, and
this just happened to be the page I opened on.
This text is a pristine example of why I stopped reading GEB. I got the
book hoping to learn something new and interesting. What I got instead
was tedious riddles. Lots of them.
Opening the book a few more times at random, I did eventually come
across something actually mildly interesting. A discussion of the human
brain. Specifically, visual processing. Apparently there are cells which
detect light, cells which process differences in light, right the way up
to cells which fire in response to particular visual patterns. Simple
basic shapes and textures.
But what about higher levels of complexity? Taking this to its logical
conclusion, is there a "grandmother cell", which fires if and only if
you happen to be looking at the image of your grandmother?
It's an interesting question. And the discussion mentions some
interesting experimental results (e.g., cells which fire when you're
standing at a particular point in space). But, to me, asking whether
there's one cell which fires when you see your grandmother is a bit like
asking whether there's one transistor somewhere in a computer which
switches on only if you happen to be running MS Word.
What you put it that way, the absurdity of the question becomes obvious.
"MS Word" is an abstraction created not by one transistor, but by the
concerted activity of millions of them. I would expect that complex
high-level phenomena like recognising a person's face is a similar
matter for the human brain.
So far, that's about the only moderately interesting thing I've managed
to get from GEB.
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Darren New <dne### [at] san rrcom> wrote:
> http://www.evl.uic.edu/swami/crabcanon
>
> My favorite prelude in Godel Escher Bach.
thank you for that!
I'm still to read this classic. Does it include many illustrations and graphs?
If not, perhaps I'll buy the ebook.
oh, bummer. No ebook edition anywhere yet...
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On 7/1/2011 10:10, nemesis wrote:
> I'm still to read this classic. Does it include many illustrations and graphs?
Not that I recall. Altho there is interesting typography in various places.
> oh, bummer. No ebook edition anywhere yet...
Not legally, at least.
--
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
"Coding without comments is like
driving without turn signals."
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Darren New escreveu:
> On 7/1/2011 10:10, nemesis wrote:
>> I'm still to read this classic. Does it include many illustrations
>> and graphs?
>
> Not that I recall. Altho there is interesting typography in various
> places.
>
>> oh, bummer. No ebook edition anywhere yet...
>
> Not legally, at least.
there are PDF's, but fixed layout is horrible on small screen. Besides,
I feel the need to tip the author.
--
a game sig: http://tinyurl.com/d3rxz9
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Invisible escreveu:
> This text is a pristine example of why I stopped reading GEB. I got the
> book hoping to learn something new and interesting. What I got instead
> was tedious riddles. Lots of them.
you really don't enjoy art, do you? All art is useless and still I
wouldn't want to live without it...
--
a game sig: http://tinyurl.com/d3rxz9
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On 01/07/2011 08:08 PM, nemesis wrote:
> you really don't enjoy art, do you?
Depends on what you call "art".
If by "art" you mean something like a skillful painter constructing a
giant painting of an epic vista, then yeah. I can appreciate that.
If by "art" you mean somebody putting a pile of bricks in a corner and
selling it for 4.8 million USD because it's now "art"... no, I really
don't enjoy art at all.
--
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*
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"Invisible" wrote in message news:4e0da580$1@news.povray.org...
So far, that's about the only moderately interesting thing I've managed
to get from GEB.
A lot of it is based quite heavily on the subject of recursion, and walks
you through the development of a typographical number / logic system. If
you don't enjoy math, you probably won't enjoy the book.
...Chambers
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On 7/2/2011 12:55, Chambers wrote:
> A lot of it is based quite heavily on the subject of recursion,
The whole first volume, actually.
--
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
"Coding without comments is like
driving without turn signals."
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Orchid XP v8 <voi### [at] devnull> wrote:
> On 01/07/2011 08:08 PM, nemesis wrote:
>
> > you really don't enjoy art, do you?
>
> Depends on what you call "art".
>
> If by "art" you mean something like a skillful painter constructing a
> giant painting of an epic vista, then yeah. I can appreciate that.
>
> If by "art" you mean somebody putting a pile of bricks in a corner and
> selling it for 4.8 million USD because it's now "art"... no, I really
> don't enjoy art at all.
>
> --
> http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
> http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*
Same for me. Now what about recursive, self-mirroring stories and music? Is
that not good art too? Moreover, good art asking for the audience intellects to
join in, rather than passively contemplate?
sometimes, I fear you enjoy more the thrill of your hands running and jumping
all over the organ keyboard than the sounds thus produced...
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