Douglas R. Hofstadter
Author
Publisher
Princeton University Press
Pub. Date
2014
Language
English
Description
A gripping story of mathematics, computers, cryptography, and homosexual persecution. Hodges tells how Turing's revolutionary idea of 1936-- the concept of a universal machine-- laid the foundation for the modern computer. Turing brought the idea to practical realization in 1945 with his electronic design. This work was directly related to Turing's leading role in breaking the German Enigma ciphers during World War II, a scientific triumph that was...
Author
Publisher
Basic Books
Pub. Date
[1999]
Language
English
Description
Douglas Hofstadter's book is concerned directly with the nature of maps' or links between formal systems. However, according to Hofstadter, the formal system that underlies all mental activity transcends the system that supports it. If life can grow out of the formal chemical substrate of the cell, if consciousness can emerge out of a formal system of firing neurons, then so too will computers attain human intelligence. Gödel, Escher, Bach is a wonderful...