Sunday 8 January 2017

Infinite Strange Loop

A mirror mirroring a mirror 
I Am a Strange Loop.
~Douglas R. Hofstadter


 For as long as I can remember I have been obsessed with my attempts to understand human consciousness. My obsession has led me on many long treks only to find that they terminated in cul-de-sacs. For a time I read philosophy at Oxford. My studies seemed promising at first, but I gradually came realise that my professors were as clueless about the nature and explanation of consciousness as I was. In fact, at Oxford the whole pursuit was most often seen as trivial metaphysics. In stead,Oxford most often focused on analytic philosophy. So after my post-graduate studies, I continued to read as a frustrated autodidact. I read Daniel Dennett, David Chalmers, Roger Penrose (one of my all time favorites who by coincidence happens to be a professor emeritus at Oxford but unfortunately in mathematics, not philosophy), Max Velmans….The list is very long indeed. BUT I have to admit that I am as lost now as I was at the beginning of my exploration. I intend to keep looking…I’ll let you know if I find anything worth reporting.

1 comment:

  1. I quote Voltaire - it somewhat reassured me when I came across it years ago! 'I HAVE spent nearly forty years of my pilgrimage in two or three corners of this world seeking the philosopher's stone that is called Truth. I have consulted all the adepts of antiquity, Epicurus and Augustine, Plato and Malebranch and I have remained in my poverty. Maybe in all these philosophers' crucibles there are one or two ounces of gold; but all the rest is residue, dull mud, from which nothing can be born.'

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