Editing Douglas Hofstadter

{{Short description|American professor of cognitive science (born 1945)}}
{{use mdy dates|date=October 2018}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name              = Douglas Hofstadter
| native_name       = 
| native_name_lang  = 
| image             = Douglas Hofstadter, Stanford 2006 (crop).jpg
| image_size        = 225
| alt               = 
| caption           = Hofstadter in 2006
| birth_name        = Douglas Richard Hofstadter
| birth_date        = {{birth date and age|1945|2|15}}
| birth_place       = New York City, US
| death_date        = <!-- {{Death date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|YYYY|MM|DD}} (death date then birth date) -->
| death_place       = 
| fields            = [[Cognitive science]]<br />[[Philosophy of mind]]<br />[[Artificial intelligence]]<br />[[Physics]]
| workplaces        = [[Indiana University]]<br /> [[Stanford University]] <br />[[University of Oregon]] <br />[[University of Michigan]]
| education         = [[Stanford University]] ([[B. S.|BS]])<br />[[University of Oregon]] ([[PhD]])
| thesis_title      = The Energy Levels of Bloch Electrons in a Magnetic Field
| thesis_url        = https://www.proquest.com/docview/288009604
| thesis_year       = 1975
| doctoral_advisor  = [[Gregory Wannier]]<ref name="hofphd">{{cite thesis |degree = PhD |first=Douglas Richard |last=Hofstadter |title=The Energy Levels of Bloch Electrons in a Magnetic Field |institution = University of Oregon |year = 1975 |id={{ProQuest|288009604}} }}</ref>
| academic_advisors = 
| doctoral_students = [[David Chalmers]]<br />[[Robert M. French]]<br />[[Scott A. Jones]]<br />[[Melanie Mitchell]]
| notable_students  = 
| known_for         = ''[[Gödel, Escher, Bach]]''<br />''[[I Am a Strange Loop]]''<ref name="strangeloop">{{cite book |last = Hofstadter |first = Douglas R. |title = I Am a Strange Loop |title-link = I Am a Strange Loop |publisher=Basic Books |location = New York, NY |year = 2008 |orig-year = 2003 |isbn = 978-0-465-03079-8 }}</ref><br />[[Hofstadter's butterfly]]<br />[[Hofstadter's law]]
| influences        = 
| influenced        = 
| awards            = [[National Book Award]]<br />[[Pulitzer Prize]]<br />Member of the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]]<br />Golden Plate Award of the [[Academy of Achievement|American Academy of Achievement]]<ref>{{cite web|title= Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement |website=www.achievement.org|publisher=[[American Academy of Achievement]]|url=https://achievement.org/our-history/golden-plate-awards/#science-exploration}}</ref>
| website           = {{URL|1=https://web.archive.org/web/20220826020202/https://cogs.sitehost.iu.edu/people/profile.php?u=dughof|2=cogs.sitehost.iu.edu/..}}
| spouse            = Carol Ann Brush (1985–1993; her death)<br />Baofen Lin (2012–present)
| children          = 2
}}

'''Douglas Richard Hofstadter''' (born February 15, 1945) is an American cognitive and computer scientist whose research includes concepts such as the sense of self in relation to the external world,<ref name="strangeloop" /><ref>{{cite journal |last=Hofstadter |first=D. R. |year=1982 |title=Who shoves whom around inside the careenium? Or what is the meaning of the word "I"? |journal=Synthese |volume=53 |issue=#2 |pages=189–218 |doi=10.1007/BF00484897 |s2cid=46972278}}</ref> [[consciousness]], analogy-making, [[Strange loop|strange loops]], [[artificial intelligence]], and discovery in mathematics and physics. His 1979 book ''[[Gödel, Escher, Bach|Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid]]'' won the [[Pulitzer Prize]] for general nonfiction,<ref name="pulitzer">[http://www.pulitzer.org/bycat/General-Nonfiction "General Nonfiction"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120226064816/http://www.pulitzer.org/bycat/General-Nonfiction |date=February 26, 2012 }}. ''Past winners and finalists by category''. The Pulitzer Prizes. Retrieved March 17, 2012.</ref><ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/books/97/07/20/reviews/hofstadter-themas.html A bedside book of paradoxes] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170326162703/http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/07/20/reviews/hofstadter-themas.html |date=March 26, 2017 }}, ''New York Times''</ref> and a [[National Book Award]] (at that time called The American Book Award) for Science.<ref name="nba1980">[http://www.nationalbook.org/nba1980.html "National Book Awards – 1980"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140813080254/http://www.nationalbook.org/nba1980.html |date=August 13, 2014 }}. [[National Book Foundation]]. Retrieved March 7, 2012.</ref>{{NoteTag|''Gödel, Escher, Bach'' won the 1980 [[List of winners of the National Book Award#Science|award for hardcover science]].}} His 2007 book ''[[I Am a Strange Loop]]'' won the ''Los Angeles Times'' Book Prize for Science and Technology.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2008-04-26 |title=And the L.A. Times Book Prize winners are... |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/blogs/jacket-copy/story/2008-04-25/and-the-l-a-times-book-prize-winners-are |access-date=2023-04-10 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://events.latimes.com/bookprizes/previous-winners/winners-by-award/ |title=Book Prizes – Los Angeles Times Festival of Books» Winners by Award |access-date=September 25, 2012 |archive-date=April 5, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130405013402/http://events.latimes.com/bookprizes/previous-winners/winners-by-award/ |url-status=dead }}. Events.latimes.com (November 22, 1963). Retrieved on 2013-10-06.</ref><ref name="dblp">{{DBLP}}</ref><ref name="scopus">{{scopus|id=16483470000}}</ref>

== Early life and education ==
Hofstadter was born in [[New York City]] to future [[Nobel Prize]]-winning physicist [[Robert Hofstadter]] and Nancy Givan Hofstadter.<ref>Stanford News Service,[http://news.stanford.edu/pr/2007/pr-nancy-082207.html ''Nancy Hofstadter, widow of Nobel laureate in physics, dead at 87''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120324094751/http://news.stanford.edu/pr/2007/pr-nancy-082207.html |date=March 24, 2012 }}, August 17, 2007.</ref> He grew up on the campus of [[Stanford University]], where his father was a professor, and attended the [[International School of Geneva]] in 1958–59. He graduated with [[Latin honors#United States|distinction]] in [[mathematics]] from [[Stanford University]] in 1965, and received his [[Doctor of Philosophy|Ph.D.]] in [[physics]]<ref name="hofphd" /><ref name="energylevels">{{Cite journal | last = Hofstadter | first = Douglas | author-link = Douglas Hofstadter | title = Energy levels and wave functions of Bloch electrons in rational and irrational magnetic fields | doi = 10.1103/PhysRevB.14.2239 | journal = Physical Review B | volume = 14 | issue = #6 | pages = 2239–2249 | year = 1976 | bibcode = 1976PhRvB..14.2239H }}</ref> from the [[University of Oregon]] in 1975, where his study of the [[energy level]]s of [[Bloch electron]]s in a magnetic field led to his discovery of the [[fractal]] known as [[Hofstadter's butterfly]].<ref name="energylevels"/>

== Academic career ==
Hofstadter was initially appointed to Indiana University's computer science department faculty in 1977, and at that time he launched his research program in computer modeling of mental processes (which he called "artificial intelligence research", a label he has since dropped in favor of "cognitive science research"). In 1984, he moved to the [[University of Michigan]] in Ann Arbor, where he was hired as a professor of psychology and was also appointed to the Walgreen Chair for the Study of Human Understanding.

In 1988, Hofstadter returned to IU as College of Arts and Sciences Professor in cognitive science and computer science. He was also appointed adjunct professor of history and philosophy of science, philosophy, comparative literature, and psychology, but has said that his involvement with most of those departments is nominal.<ref>IU pages as [http://www.cogs.indiana.edu/people/homepages/hofstadter.html faculty]  {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031231140234/http://www.cogs.indiana.edu/people/homepages/hofstadter.html |date=December 31, 2003 }}, [http://www.indiana.edu/~alldrp/members/hofstadter.html IU distinguished faculty] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040225021941/http://www.indiana.edu/~alldrp/members/hofstadter.html |date=February 25, 2004 }} (see [http://newsinfo.iu.edu/news/page/normal/5075.html this announcement] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071216060858/http://newsinfo.iu.edu/news/page/normal/5075.html |date=December 16, 2007 }} on March 21, 2007 [http://newsinfo.iu.edu/sb/page/normal/198.html speaker]  {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071216170905/http://newsinfo.iu.edu/sb/page/normal/198.html |date=December 16, 2007 }}</ref><ref>[http://www.acm.org/crossroads/xrds10-2/hofstadter.html A Day in the Life of&nbsp;... Douglas Hofstadter] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071230033029/http://www.acm.org/crossroads/xrds10-2/hofstadter.html |date=December 30, 2007 }} 2004</ref><ref name=hopehype>[http://www.indiana.edu/~deanfac/blspr99/cogs/cogs_q700_1003.html Seminar: AI: Hope and Hype] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070606112834/http://www.indiana.edu/~deanfac/blspr99/cogs/cogs_q700_1003.html |date=June 6, 2007 }} 1999</ref> 

Since 1988, Hofstadter has been the College of Arts and Sciences [[Distinguished Professor]] of Cognitive Science and Comparative Literature at [[Indiana University (Bloomington)|Indiana University]] in Bloomington, where he directs the Center for Research on Concepts and Cognition, which consists of himself and his graduate students, forming the "Fluid Analogies Research Group" (FARG).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cogsci.indiana.edu/|title=Center for Research on Concepts and Cognition: Indiana University Bloomington|access-date=April 30, 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180411235652/https://cogsci.indiana.edu/|archive-date=April 11, 2018}}</ref> In 1988, he received the ''In Praise of Reason'' award, the [[Committee for Skeptical Inquiry]]'s highest honor.<ref name="Chicago 1988">{{cite journal|date=1988|title=New Light on the New Age CSICOP's Chicago conference was the first to critically evaluate the New Age movement.|journal=The Skeptical Inquirer|volume=13|issue=#3|pages=226–235|last1=Shore|first1=Lys Ann}}</ref> In 2009, he was elected a Fellow of the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.amacad.org/news/new2009.aspx|title=American Academy of Arts & Sciences|access-date=April 30, 2016|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120728154206/http://www.amacad.org/news/new2009.aspx|archive-date=July 28, 2012|df=mdy-all}}</ref> and became a member of the [[American Philosophical Society]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.amphilsoc.org/|title=Home - American Philosophical Society|access-date=April 30, 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160429125308/https://amphilsoc.org/|archive-date=April 29, 2016}}</ref> In 2010, he was elected a member of the [[Royal Society of Sciences in Uppsala]], Sweden.<ref>[http://www.cogsci.indiana.edu/ Center for Research on Concepts and Cognition: Indiana University Bloomington] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/19970626025422/http://www.cogsci.indiana.edu/ |date=June 26, 1997 }}. Cogsci.indiana.edu. Retrieved on October 6, 2013.</ref>

==Work and publications==
At the University of Michigan and Indiana University, Hofstadter and [[Melanie Mitchell]] coauthored a computational model of "high-level perception"—[[Copycat (software)|Copycat]]—and several other models of analogy-making and [[cognition]], including the Tabletop project, co-developed with [[Robert M. French]].<ref>
[http://science.slc.edu/~jmarshall/metacat  An overview of Metacat] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070818185020/http://science.slc.edu/~jmarshall/metacat/ |date=August 18, 2007 }} 2003
</ref> The Letter Spirit project, implemented by Gary McGraw and John Rehling, aims to model artistic creativity by designing stylistically uniform "gridfonts" (typefaces limited to a grid). Other more recent models include Phaeaco (implemented by Harry Foundalis) and SeqSee (Abhijit Mahabal), which model high-level perception and analogy-making in the microdomains of [[Bongard problem]]s and number sequences, respectively, as well as George (Francisco Lara-Dammer), which models the processes of perception and discovery in triangle geometry.<ref>
[https://www.wired.com/wired/archive/3.11/kelly.html By Analogy: A talk with the most remarkable researcher in artificial intelligence today, Douglas Hofstadter, the author of Gödel, Escher, Bach] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131209110635/http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/3.11/kelly.html |date=December 9, 2013 }} ''Wired Magazine'', November 1995
</ref><ref>
[http://kwc.org/blog/archives/2006/2006-02-06.talk_douglas_hofstadter_analogy_as_the_core_of_cognition.html Analogy as the Core of Cognition] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080411090721/http://kwc.org/blog/archives/2006/2006-02-06.talk_douglas_hofstadter_analogy_as_the_core_of_cognition.html |date=April 11, 2008 }} Review of Stanford lecture, February 2, 2006
</ref><ref>
[http://www.cogsci.indiana.edu/research.html Center for Research on Concepts and Cognition] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100526175607/http://www.cogsci.indiana.edu/research.html |date=May 26, 2010 }}</ref>

Hofstadter's thesis about consciousness, first expressed in ''[[Gödel, Escher, Bach]]'' but also present in several of his later books, is that it is "an emergent consequence of seething lower-level activity in the brain."{{citation needed|date=January 2024}} In ''Gödel, Escher, Bach'' he draws an analogy between the social organization of a colony of ants and the mind seen as a coherent "colony" of neurons. In particular, Hofstadter claims that our sense of having (or being) an "I" comes from the abstract pattern he terms a "[[strange loop]]", an abstract cousin of such concrete phenomena as [[Audio feedback|audio]] and [[Optical feedback|video feedback]] that Hofstadter has defined as "a level-crossing feedback loop". The prototypical example of a strange loop is the self-referential structure at the core of [[Gödel's incompleteness theorems]]. Hofstadter's 2007 book ''[[I Am a Strange Loop]]'' carries his vision of consciousness considerably further, including the idea that each human "I" is distributed over numerous brains, rather than being limited to one.<ref>
[http://www.bizcharts.com/stoa_del_sol/conscious/conscious2.html Consciousness In The Cosmos: Perspective of Mind: Douglas Hofstadter] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080804052510/http://www.bizcharts.com/stoa_del_sol/conscious/conscious2.html |date=August 4, 2008 }}</ref> ''[[Le Ton beau de Marot|Le Ton beau de Marot: In Praise of the Music of Language]]'' is a long book devoted to language and translation, especially poetry translation, and one of its leitmotifs is a set of 88 translations of "Ma Mignonne", a highly constrained poem by 16th-century French poet [[Clément Marot]]. In this book, Hofstadter jokingly describes himself as "[[pi]]lingual" (meaning that the sum total of the varying degrees of mastery of all the languages that he has studied comes to 3.14159&nbsp;...), as well as an "oligoglot" (someone who speaks "a few" languages).<ref>Hofstadter, Douglas R. ''Le Ton Beau de Marot''. New York: Basic Books, 1997, pp. 16–17.</ref><ref>Hofstadter, Douglas R. ''Le Ton Beau de Marot'', Chapter "How Jolly the Lot of an Oligoglot", New York: Basic Books, 1997, pp. 15–62.</ref>

In 1999, the bicentennial year of the Russian poet and writer [[Alexander Pushkin]], Hofstadter published a verse translation of Pushkin's classic novel-in-verse ''[[Eugene Onegin]]''. He has translated other poems and two novels: ''[[La chamade|La Chamade]]'' (''That Mad Ache'') by [[Françoise Sagan]], and ''La Scoperta dell'Alba'' (''The Discovery of Dawn'') by [[Walter Veltroni]], the then-head of the Partito Democratico in Italy. ''The Discovery of Dawn'' was published in 2007, and ''That Mad Ache'' was published in 2009, bound together with Hofstadter's essay "Translator, Trader: An Essay on the Pleasantly Pervasive Paradoxes of Translation".{{cn|date=August 2024}}

=== Hofstadter's Law ===
{{Main|Hofstadter's Law}}
[[Hofstadter's Law]] is "It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take into account Hofstadter's Law." The law is stated in ''Gödel, Escher, Bach''.

=== Students ===
Hofstadter's former Ph.D. students<ref>{{cite web | title=People at the CRCC | publisher=The Center for Research on Concepts and Cognition | url=http://www.cogsci.indiana.edu/people.html | access-date=February 18, 2014 | url-status=live | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140222034909/http://www.cogsci.indiana.edu/people.html | archive-date=February 22, 2014 }}</ref> include (with dissertation title):

*[[David Chalmers]]{{snd}}Toward a Theory of Consciousness
*[[Robert M. French|Bob French]]{{snd}}Tabletop: An Emergent, Stochastic Model of Analogy-Making
*[[Gary McGraw]]{{snd}}Letter Spirit (Part One): Emergent High-level Perception of Letters Using Fluid Concepts
*[[Melanie Mitchell]]{{snd}}Copycat: A Computer Model of High-Level Perception and Conceptual Slippage in Analogy-making

== Public image ==
[[File:Hofstadter2002.jpg|thumb|242x242px|Hofstadter in Bologna, Italy, in 2002]]
Hofstadter has said that he feels "uncomfortable with the nerd culture that centers on computers". He admits that "a large fraction [of his audience] seems to be those who are fascinated by technology", but when it was suggested that his work "has inspired many students to begin careers in computing and artificial intelligence" he replied that he was pleased about that, but that he himself has "no interest in computers".<ref name="wired">{{cite magazine
 |url         = https://www.wired.com/wired/archive/15.03/play.html?pg=3
 |title       = Me, My Soul, and I
 |access-date  = December 10, 2007
 |date        = March 2007
 |magazine        = Wired
 |url-status     = live
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20070929133926/http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/15.03/play.html?pg=3
 |archive-date = September 29, 2007
}}</ref><ref name="NYTimes">[https://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/01/magazine/01wwlnQ4.t.html?_r=1&ref=magazine&oref=slogin The Mind Reader] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170301154521/http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/01/magazine/01wwlnQ4.t.html?_r=1&ref=magazine&oref=slogin |date=March 1, 2017 }}, ''New York Times Magazine'', April 1, 2007</ref> In that interview he also mentioned a course he has twice given at Indiana University, in which he took a "skeptical look at a number of highly touted AI projects and overall approaches".<ref name=hopehype /> For example, upon the defeat of [[Garry Kasparov]] by [[IBM Deep Blue|Deep Blue]], he commented: "It was a watershed event, but it doesn't have to do with computers becoming intelligent."<ref>[http://besser.tsoa.nyu.edu/impact/w96/News/News7/0219weber.html Mean Chess-Playing Computer Tears at Meaning of Thought] {{webarchive|url=http://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/20150317084003/http://besser.tsoa.nyu.edu/impact/w96/News/News7/0219weber.html |date=March 17, 2015 }} by Bruce Weber, February 19, 1996, ''New York Times''</ref> In his book ''Metamagical Themas'', he says that "in this day and age, how can anyone fascinated by creativity and beauty fail to see in computers the ultimate tool for exploring their essence?"<ref>{{cite book
 |url      = http://avalonlibrary.net/ebooks/Douglas%20Hofstadter%20-%20Metamagical%20Themas.pdf
 |title      = Metamagical Themas
 |last      = Hofstadter
 |first      = Douglas
 |date      = 1985
 |page      = 9
 |access-date      = December 19, 2018
 |archive-url      = https://web.archive.org/web/20180812233024/http://avalonlibrary.net/ebooks/Douglas%20Hofstadter%20-%20Metamagical%20Themas.pdf
 |archive-date      = August 12, 2018
 |url-status      = dead
 }}</ref>

In 1988, Dutch director Piet Hoenderdos created a docudrama about Hofstadter and his ideas, ''[[Victim of the Brain]]'', based on ''[[The Mind's I]]''. It includes interviews with Hofstadter about his work.<ref>[http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8576072297424860224 Victim of the Brain] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070817051855/http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8576072297424860224|date=August 17, 2007}} – 1988 docudrama about the ideas of Douglas Hofstadter</ref>

Provoked by predictions of a [[technological singularity]] (a hypothetical moment in the future of humanity when a self-reinforcing, runaway development of [[artificial intelligence]] causes a radical change in technology and culture), Hofstadter has both organized and participated in several public discussions of the topic. At Indiana University in 1999 he organized such a symposium, and in April 2000, he organized a larger symposium titled "Spiritual Robots" at Stanford University, in which he moderated a panel consisting of [[Ray Kurzweil]], [[Hans Moravec]], [[Kevin Kelly (editor)|Kevin Kelly]], [[Ralph Merkle]], [[Bill Joy]], [[Frank Drake]], [[John Henry Holland|John Holland]] and [[John Koza]]. Hofstadter was also an invited panelist at the first [[Singularity Summit]], held at Stanford in May 2006. Hofstadter expressed doubt that the singularity will occur in the foreseeable future.<ref>"Will Spiritual Robots Replace Humanity By 2100?", April 1, 2000 Note: as of 2007, videos seem to be missing.</ref><ref name="mooreslaw">"Moore's Law, Artificial Evolution, and the Fate of Humanity." In L. Booker, S. Forrest, et al. (eds.), ''Perspectives on Adaptation in Natural and Artificial Systems''. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003.</ref><ref>[http://sss.stanford.edu/ The Singularity Summit at Stanford] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071018060811/http://sss.stanford.edu/ |date=October 18, 2007 }} 2006</ref><ref>[http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8832143373632003914 Trying to Muse Rationally about the Singularity Scenario] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080330055411/http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8832143373632003914 |date=March 30, 2008 }} 35 minute video,  May 13, 2006</ref><ref>[http://www.singinst.org/summit2007/quotes/douglashofstadter/ Quotes from his 2006 Singularity Summit presentation] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071228114227/http://www.singinst.org/summit2007/quotes/douglashofstadter/ |date=December 28, 2007 }}</ref><ref>"Staring EMI Straight in the Eye—and Doing My Best Not to Flinch." In David Cope, ''Virtual Music: Computer Synthesis of Musical Style'', Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2001.</ref>

In a 2023 interview, Hofstadter said that rapid progress in AI made some of his "core beliefs" about AI's limitations "collapse".<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-07-29 |author=Amy Jo Kim |title=Doug Hofstadter: Reflections on AI |url=https://www.buzzsprout.com/222312/episodes/13125914 |access-date=2025-02-06 |website=Buzzsprout: Getting2Alpha |archive-date=February 6, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250206160339/https://www.buzzsprout.com/222312/episodes/13125914 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{YouTube |id=R6e08RnJyxo |title=Gödel, Escher, Bach author Doug Hofstadter on the state of AI today}}</ref> Hinting at an [[AI takeover]], he added that human beings may soon be eclipsed by "something else that is far more intelligent and will become incomprehensible to us".<ref>{{Cite news |last=Brooks |first=David |date=2023-07-13 |title=Opinion {{!}} 'Human Beings Are Soon Going to Be Eclipsed' |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/13/opinion/ai-chatgpt-consciousness-hofstadter.html |access-date=2024-07-07 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Bastian |first=Matthias |date=2023-07-09 |title=Douglas Hofstadter thinks GPT-4 may undermine the "nature of truth on which our society is based" |url=https://the-decoder.com/douglas-hofstadter-thinks-gpt-4-may-undermine-the-nature-of-truth-on-which-our-society-is-based/ |access-date=2024-07-07 |website=The decoder |language=en-US}}</ref>

== Columnist ==
When [[Martin Gardner]] retired from writing his "[[Mathematical Games (column)|Mathematical Games]]" column for ''[[Scientific American]]'' magazine, Hofstadter succeeded him in 1981–83 with a column titled ''[[Metamagical Themas]]'' (an [[anagram]] of "Mathematical Games"). An idea he introduced in one of these columns was the concept of "Reviews of This Book", a book containing nothing but cross-referenced reviews of itself that has an online implementation.<ref>[http://www.reenigne.org/blog/review/ Online implementation of his ''Reviews of this Book'' idea] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090107122927/http://www.reenigne.org/blog/review/ |date=January 7, 2009 }}</ref> One of Hofstadter's columns in ''Scientific American'' concerned the damaging effects of sexist language, and two chapters of his book ''[[Metamagical Themas]]'' are devoted to that topic, one of which is a biting analogy-based satire, "[http://www.cs.virginia.edu/~evans/cs655/readings/purity.html A Person Paper on Purity in Language]" (1985), in which the reader's presumed revulsion at racism and racist language is used as a lever to motivate an analogous revulsion at sexism and sexist language; Hofstadter published it under the pseudonym William Satire, an allusion to [[William Safire]].<ref>[http://www.cs.virginia.edu/~evans/cs655/readings/purity.html A Person Paper on Purity in Language] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150516222831/http://www.cs.virginia.edu/~evans/cs655/readings/purity.html |date=May 16, 2015 }} by William Satire (alias Douglas R. Hofstadter), 1985 – a satirical piece, on the subject of sexist language</ref> Another column reported on the discoveries made by University of Michigan professor [[Robert Axelrod (political scientist)|Robert Axelrod]] in his computer tournament pitting many iterated [[prisoner's dilemma]] strategies against each other, and a follow-up column discussed a similar tournament that Hofstadter and his graduate student Marek Lugowski organized.{{citation needed|date=February 2014}} The "Metamagical Themas" columns ranged over many themes, including patterns in [[Frédéric Chopin]]'s piano music (particularly his [[Études (Chopin)|études]]), the concept of [[superrationality]] (choosing to cooperate when the other party/adversary is assumed to be equally intelligent as oneself), and the [[self-modifying game]] of [[Nomic]], based on the way the legal system modifies itself, and developed by philosopher [[Peter Suber]].<ref>''Metamagical Themas'', Douglas R. Hofstadter, Basic Books, New York (1985), see preface, introduction, contents listing.</ref>

== Personal life ==
Hofstadter was married to Carol Ann Brush until her death. They met in Bloomington, and married in Ann Arbor in 1985. They had two children. Carol died in 1993 from the sudden onset of a brain tumor, [[glioblastoma multiforme]], when their children were young. The Carol Ann Brush Hofstadter Memorial Scholarship for Bologna-bound Indiana University students was established in 1996 in her name.<ref>[http://www.indiana.edu/~frithome/alumni/spr96index.html French and Italian] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071212193054/http://www.indiana.edu/~frithome/alumni/spr96index.html |date=December 12, 2007 }} Spring 1996, Vol. X</ref> Hofstadter's book ''[[Le Ton beau de Marot]]'' is dedicated to their two children and its dedication reads "To M. & D., living sparks of their Mommy's soul". In 2010, Hofstadter met his second wife, Baofen Lin, in a [[Cha-cha-cha (dance)|cha-cha-cha]] class. They married in 2012 in Bloomington.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.hoosiertimes.com/search/?q=hofstadter+baofen|title=Search}}{{Dead link|date=March 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.theryder.com/magazine/feature-articles/falling-in-love-with-panache/ | title = Falling in Love, With Panache | author = Rachael Himsel | date = November 2013 | access-date = 1 September 2023 | publisher = The Ryder}}</ref>

Hofstadter has composed pieces for piano and for piano and voice. He created an audio CD, ''DRH/JJ'', of these compositions performed mostly by pianist Jane Jackson, with a few performed by Brian Jones, Dafna Barenboim, Gitanjali Mathur, and Hofstadter.<ref>''Piano Music by Douglas Hofstadter'' (audio CD), 2000, {{ISBN|1-57677-143-1}}</ref> 

The dedication for ''I Am A Strange Loop'' is: "To my sister Laura, who can understand, and to our sister Molly, who cannot."<ref>Hofstadter, Douglas R. ''I Am a Strange Loop'', p. v. Basic Books, 2007.</ref> Hofstadter explains in the preface that his younger sister Molly never developed the ability to speak or understand language.<ref>Hofstadter, Douglas R. ''I Am a Strange Loop'', [https://books.google.com/books?id=Y2lmjHDS1dgC&dq=%22i%20am%20a%20strange%20loop%22&pg=PR11 p. xi.] Basic Books, 2007. "No one knew what it was, but Molly wasn't able to understand language or to speak (nor is she to this day, and we never did find out why)."</ref> 

As a consequence of his attitudes about consciousness and empathy, Hofstadter became a [[Vegetarianism|vegetarian]] in his teenage years, and has remained primarily so since that time.<ref>{{cite journal
 |url         = https://www.ams.org/notices/200707/tx070700852p.pdf
 |access-date  = December 10, 2007
 |journal     = Notices of the American Mathematical Society
 |volume      = 54
 |issue       = #7
 |page        = 853
 |last        = Gardner
 |first       = Martin
 |author-link  = Martin Gardner
 |date        = August 2007
 |title       = Do Loops Explain Consciousness? Review of ''I Am a Strange Loop''
 |url-status     = live
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20080216035138/http://www.ams.org/notices/200707/tx070700852p.pdf
 |archive-date = February 16, 2008
}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Hofstadter|first=Douglas|title=I Am a Strange Loop|publisher=Basic Books|year=2007|pages=13–14}}</ref>

==In popular culture==
In the 1982 novel ''[[2010: Odyssey Two]]'', [[Arthur C. Clarke]]'s first sequel to ''[[2001: A Space Odyssey (novel)|2001: A Space Odyssey]]'', [[HAL 9000]] is described by the character "Dr. Chandra" as being caught in a "Hofstadter–[[August Ferdinand Möbius|Möbius]] loop". The movie uses the term "H. Möbius loop". On April 3, 1995, Hofstadter's book ''[[Fluid Concepts and Creative Analogies|Fluid Concepts and Creative Analogies: Computer Models of the Fundamental Mechanisms of Thought]]'' was the first book sold by [[Amazon.com]].<ref>{{cite web |first=Brian |last=McCullough |date=April 3, 2015 |title=What Was The First Item Ever Ordered On Amazon? |url=http://www.internethistorypodcast.com/2015/04/the-first-item-ever-ordered-on-amazon/ |access-date=August 6, 2021}}</ref> [[Michael R. Jackson]]'s musical ''[[A Strange Loop]]'' makes reference to Hofstadter's concept and the title of his 2007 book.

== Published works ==
=== Books ===
The books published by Hofstadter are (the ISBNs refer to paperback editions, where available):
*''[[Gödel, Escher, Bach|Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid]]'' ({{ISBN|0-465-02656-7}}) (1979)
*''[[Metamagical Themas]]'' ({{ISBN|0-465-04566-9}}) (collection of ''Scientific American'' columns and other essays, all with postscripts) (1985)
*''Ambigrammi: un microcosmo ideale per lo studio della creatività'' ({{ISBN|88-7757-006-7}}) (in Italian only)
*''[[Fluid Concepts and Creative Analogies]]'' (co-authored with several of Hofstadter's graduate students) ({{ISBN|0-465-02475-0}})
*''Rhapsody on a Theme by Clement Marot'' ({{ISBN|0-910153-11-6}}) (1995, published 1996; volume 16 of series ''The Grace A. Tanner Lecture in Human Values'')
*''[[Le Ton beau de Marot]]: In Praise of the Music of Language'' ({{ISBN|0-465-08645-4}})
*''[[I Am a Strange Loop]]'' ({{ISBN|0-465-03078-5}}) (2007)
*''Surfaces and Essences: Analogy as the Fuel and Fire of Thinking'', co-authored with Emmanuel Sander ({{ISBN|0-465-01847-5}}) (first published in French as ''L'Analogie. Cœur de la pensée''; published in English in the U.S. in April 2013)

=== Involvement in other books ===
Hofstadter has written forewords for or edited the following books:
*''[[The Mind's I]]: Fantasies and Reflections on Self and Soul'' (co-edited with [[Daniel Dennett]]), 1981. ({{ISBN|0-465-03091-2}}, {{ISBN|0-553-01412-9}}) and ({{ISBN|0-553-34584-2}})
*''Inversions'', by [[Scott Kim]], 1981. (Foreword) ({{ISBN|1-55953-280-7}})
*''[[Alan Turing: The Enigma]]'' by [[Andrew Hodges]], 1983. (Preface)
*''[[Sparse Distributed Memory]]'' by [[Pentti Kanerva]], Bradford Books/MIT Press, 1988. (Foreword) ({{ISBN|0-262-11132-2}})
*''Are Quanta Real? A Galilean Dialogue'' by J.M. Jauch, Indiana University Press, 1989. (Foreword) ({{ISBN|0-253-20545-X}})
*''Gödel's Proof'' (2002 revised edition) by [[Ernest Nagel]] and [[James R. Newman]], edited by Hofstadter. In the foreword, Hofstadter explains that the book (originally published in 1958) exerted a profound influence on him when he was young. ({{ISBN|0-8147-5816-9}})
*''Who Invented the Computer? The Legal Battle That Changed Computing History'' by [[Alice Burks|Alice Rowe Burks]], 2003. (Foreword)
*''[[Alan Turing]]: Life and Legacy of a Great Thinker'' by [[Christof Teuscher]], 2003. (editor)
*''Brainstem Still Life'' by [[Jason Salavon]], 2004. (Introduction) ({{ISBN|981-05-1662-2}})
*''Masters of Deception: Escher, Dalí & the Artists of Optical Illusion'' by [[Al Seckel]], 2004. (Foreword)
*''[[Harold Scott MacDonald Coxeter|King of Infinite Space: Donald Coxeter, the Man Who Saved Geometry]]'' by [[Siobhan Roberts]], Walker and Company, 2006. (Foreword)
*''Exact Thinking in Demented Times: The Vienna Circle and the Epic Quest for the Foundations of Science'' by [[Karl Sigmund]], Basic Books, 2017. Hofstadter wrote the foreword and helped with the translation.
*''To Light the Flame of Reason: Clear Thinking for the Twenty-First Century'' by [[Christopher Sturmark]], Prometheus, 2022. (Foreword and Contributions)

===Translations===
*''[[Eugene Onegin]]: A Novel Versification'' from the Russian original of [[Alexander Pushkin]], 1999. ({{ISBN|0-465-02094-1}})
*''[[The Discovery of Dawn]]'' from the Italian original of [[Walter Veltroni]], 2007. ({{ISBN|978-0-8478-3109-8}})
*''That Mad Ache'', co-bound with ''Translator, Trader: An Essay on the Pleasantly Pervasive Paradoxes of Translation'', from the French original [[La chamade]] of [[Francoise Sagan]]), 2009. ({{ISBN|978-0-465-01098-1}})

== See also ==
{{Div col|colwidth=25em}}
* [[American philosophy]]
* [[BlooP and FlooP]]
* [[Egbert B. Gebstadter]]
* [[Hofstadter points]]
* [[Hofstadter's butterfly]]
* [[Hofstadter's law]]
* [[List of American philosophers]]
* [[Platonia dilemma]]
* [[Superrationality]]
{{Div col end}}

== Notes ==
{{NoteFoot}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
{{Wikiquote}}
{{Commons category|Douglas Hofstadter}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20200215161755/http://prelectur.stanford.edu/lecturers/hofstadter/ Stanford University Presidential Lecture] – site dedicated to Hofstadter and his work
* {{DBLP}}
* [https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/11/the-man-who-would-teach-machines-to-think/309529/ "The Man Who Would Teach Machines to Think"] by James Somers, ''[[The Atlantic]]'', November 2013 issue
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080423184902/http://www.resonancepub.com/douglas_hofstadter.htm Profile] at Resonance Publications
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20071212002150/http://www-users.cs.york.ac.uk/~susan/bib/nf/h/hofstdtr.htm NF Reviews] – bibliographic page with reviews of several of Hofstadter's books
* [http://prelectur.stanford.edu/lecturers/hofstadter/autolipography.html "Autoportrait with Constraint"] – a short autobiography in the form of a [[lipogram]]
* [https://github.com/Alex-Linhares/Fluid-Concepts-and-Creative-Analogies GitHub repo of sourcecode & literature of Hofstadter's students work]
* [https://www.literature-map.com/douglas+hofstadter.html Douglas Hofstadter on the Literature Map]
*{{Internet Archive author |sname= Douglas Hofstadter}}

{{Douglas Hofstadter}}
{{PulitzerPrize GeneralNon-Fiction 1976–2000}}

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