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Douglas HofstadterA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Hofstadter returns to isomorphisms and questions their relation to meaning. He asks whether the symbol contains meaning or the mind. A record player is used as an example. The vinyl contains grooves which are “read” by a phonograph to produce sounds. In this example, the record player reveals information, but the record itself contains the information. Hofstadter asserts that meaning occurs when a formal system—the grooves on a record player—can be mapped to reveal real-world patterns.
Hofstadter uses several terms interchangeably, and their usage is important to the discussion of the nature of symbols. A symbol represents a coded message or a character. Humans attach meaning to symbols through decoding, or interpretation. Consciousness is the ability that enables humans to make meaning from meaningless parts.
Hofstadter reiterates his theory about formal systems: Human intelligence requires the ability to recognize a distinction between syntax—the formal structure composed of rules—and semantics—the meaning or interpretation of symbols. Unlike machine learning, finding meaning is a phenomenological act that has multiple levels. Human intelligence has a natural ability for identifying potential meaning, but Hofstadter proposes that finding meaning is a natural act: “Deciphering mechanisms are themselves universal—that is, they are fundamental forms of nature which arise in the same way in diverse contexts” (171).