Douglas Hofstadter

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1. 01

   Consciousness might arise from loops that refer back to themselves, the way a drawing of a hand drawing itself seems impossible, yet makes sense as an idea.

   Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid · 1979

   Consciousness arises from self‑referential loops, like a hand drawing itself.

   Hofstadter compared the mind to an Escher drawing, where a staircase seems to keep climbing yet returns to where it started. He linked this to Gödel's discovery: a system complex enough can talk about itself. Perhaps this exact kind of self-referring loop creates our sense of self.

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