Douglas hofstadters original article on nomic from scientific american, june 1982, trafnslated into german. San francisco chronicle delight is the operational word. I first encountered the term in the pages of douglas hofstadters book metamagical themas, a collection of his columns from scientific american. Table of contents for issues of scientific american last update.
Highly recommended for a ride into an forest of bizarre thoughts from a brillant thinker. Scientific american is trueyet my ability to defend such a claim is weaker than i would like. Variations on a theme as the essence of imagination. Thomas scientific lab supplies, lab equipment, lab. The math book features both the rubiks cube and the fractal menger sponge. The evolution of cooperation is a 1984 book by political scientist robert axelrod that expanded a highly influential paper of the same name, and popularized the study upon which the original paper had been based. Joel uckelman bought this domain name and is using it to host nomic games and useful nomic tools. A wideranging book collated from articles written by the author for his column in scientific american. Were excited to share with you a collection of covid19 resources articles, quick links, and government resources read more apr 24.
You can learn more about this mengerubik cubesponge here. An introduction to the game, in german, from thomas voigtmann. The anthology was published in 1985 by basic books. Great books in computer sciences florida institute of. Hofstadter, 9780465045662, available at book depository with free delivery worldwide. Scientific american is the essential guide to the most aweinspiring advances in science and technology, explaining how they change our understanding of the. Not only is metamagical themas a great source and resource in itself, but it will lead you to other fascinating booksto wit books that deal not only with science but with literature and music. And most likely the readers, authors, and editors of that magazine would be equally hard pressed to come up with cogent, nontechnical arguments convincing a skeptic of this point. The closest thing imaginable to taking a voyage through a mind. Michaels said the attacks came because the book threatens billions of taxpayer dollars that go. He is recognized as a leading authority on lewis carroll. Successor to martin gardners column mathematical games in scientific american.
It consists of a collection of his columns from scientific american which were written under the same title, alternating with postscripts which expand on the columns and link them together. Buy metamagical themas by douglas r hofstadter online at alibris. This book is a compilation of those columns, each with a new endnote by hofstadter and some letters received by the magazine and his reply. Featured movies all video latest this just in prelinger archives democracy now. The volume is substantial in size and contains extensive notes concerning responses to the articles and other information relevant to their content. Hofstadter chose the title metamagical themas for his column because it is an anagram of mathematical. Thomas scientific lab supplies, lab equipment, lab chemicals. Metamagical themas goodreads meet your next favorite book. For me this book was a companion to metamagical themas, a collection of hofstadters scientific american articles. Hofstadters display of information will capture the imagination. Thomas henry huxley, leonard huxley, life and letters of.
The dogmatic refusal to give up an idea in the face of overwhelming evidence that the idea is false and the use of ad hoc hypotheses to try to save the theory. Top american libraries canadian libraries universal library community texts project gutenberg biodiversity heritage library childrens library. This book takes its title from the column i wrote in scientific american between january 1981 and july 1983. His column, that occupied the same place as mathemetical games, was called metamagical themas looking closely at those two names will tell you a lot about douglas hofstadter and lasted for issues. Metamagical themas quotes showing 16 of 6 it turns out that an eerie type of chaos can lurk just behind a facade of order and yet, deep inside the chaos lurks an even eerier type of order. Table of contents for issues of scientific american. Scientific american, a division of nature america, inc. The tendency to propose theories as scientific, but which cannot be empirically tested in any meaningful way. If you love that, then read this, which is mostly a collection of the authors columns from scientific american. This, however, is an excellent reason to try to flesh them out as much as possible, to try to see what the metaphor of twiddling knobs on a concept involves. In 1981 he gradually took over martin gardners column in scientific american, mathematical games, which he renamed metamagical themas, an anagram the same letters arranged in a new order of the original title.
Classic puzzles, paradoxes, and problems whether discussing hexaflexagons or number theory, klein bottles or the essence of nothing, martin gardner has singlehandedly created the field of recreational mathemat. It is mindbending and astounding as one would expect from the author of godel, escher, bach and covers much of the same ground, but it also covers more practical aspects of ai and, in particular, aspects of cognitive science such as. Together they cover a large range of topics while keeping to the central concerns of most of hofstadters work. These columns appeared between january 1981 and july 1983. Wasnt there a book of gardners scientific american puzzles published in the 70s called metamagical themis. Hofstadter, metamagical themas questing for the essence of mind and pattern philpapers. Other readers will always be interested in your opinion of the books youve read. Creating your own pseudoscience part one skeptimedia. Since 2006, reprints of the book have included a foreword by richard dawkins and been marketed as a revised edition. Metamagical themas, one of which is dilemmas for superrational thinkers, leading up to a luring lottery scientific american, june 1983. Douglass hofstadter expounds this idea at great length in a series of scientific american articles, reprinted in his collection.
My favorite combination of the rubiks cube and menger sponge, far too difficult for any human to solve, is the menger rubiks cube, pictured at right, by petter duvander. Martin gardner october 21, 1914 may 22, 2010 was an american popular mathematics and popular science writer, with interests also encompassing scientific skepticism, micromagic, philosophy, religion, and literatureespecially the writings of lewis carroll, l. Being a collection of articles, that book is much more accessible. Scientific american, may 1982, metamagical themas column. My choice of title deliberately left the focus of the column somewhat hazy, which was fine with me as well, as with scientific american. Martin gardner october 21, 1914 may 22, 2010 4 was an american popular mathematics and popular science writer, with interests also encompassing micromagic, scientific skepticism, philosophy, religion, and literatureespecially the writings of lewis carroll and g. In terms of sense, thats as good, or better than, a man, a plan, a canal, panama. The prisoners dilemma, computer tournaments and the. This metamaical, i found many of the chapters very dated because the whole field of ai has simply exploded in the intervening years. Metamagial out words and replace them with improved approximations. In its january 2002 issue, scientific american published a series of criticisms of the bjorn lomborg book the skeptical environmentalist. Wuwt smeared by scientific americans bora zivkovic. American libraries canadian libraries universal library community texts project gutenberg biodiversity heritage library childrens library.
The prisoners dilemma, computer tournaments and the evolution of cooperation may, 1983 life is filled with paradoxes and dilemmas. In that twoandahalfyear span, i produced 25 columns on quite a variety of topics. Im no mathematician but i do love good anagrams, palindromes, etc. Metamagical themas by douglas r hofstadter alibris. Excerpts from douglas hofstadters metamagical themas a collection mostly of articles he wrote for scientific american. Buy metamagical themas book online at low prices in india. Any of martin gardners collection of mathematical games columns from scientific american e. This book by douglas hofstadter is subtitled questing for the essence of mind and pattern. Since 1900, thomas scientific has been providing the latest in laboratory supplies, laboratory equipment, laboratory instruments, laboratory chemicals and. Douglas hofstadter is obsessed with the meaning of meaning and has been thinking about thinking for most of his life. Emerging viruses, like h1n1, ebola, and the covid19, have been on the rise in the past several. Questing for the essence of mind and pattern book club. His first book won a pulitzer prize, but for those of us who share his obsession with thought, meaning, pattern, and creativity, this one is even better.
An interlocked collection of literary, scientific, and artistic studies. Scientific american is the essential guide to the most aweinspiring advances in science and technology, explaining how they change our understanding of the world and shape our lives. Metamagical themas numbernumbness, or why inn um era cy may be just as dangerous as illiteracy by douglas r. It should be on the list of best books if you could only have one. Whether youve loved the book or not, if you give your honest and detailed thoughts then people will find new books that are right for them. A collection of the metamagical themas column form scientific american with.
Questing for the essence of mind and pattern by hofstadter, douglas and a great selection of related books, art and collectibles available now at. A collection of the metamagical themas column form scientific american with responses, additions and some articles never published. Metamagical themas is a collection of eclectic articles written for scientific american during the early 1980s by douglas hofstadter, and published together as a book in 1985 by basic books isbn 0465045669 the subject matter of the articles is loosely woven about themes in philosophy, creativity, artificial intelligence, typography and fonts, and important social issues. Theres no book that captures the joy of math better than these. They are proto scientific terms awaiting explication.
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