Hofstadter's long-awaited return to the themes of Gödel, Escher, Bach--an original and controversial view of the nature of consciousness and identity. What do we mean when we say "I"? Can a self, a soul, a consciousness, an "I" arise out of mere matter? If it cannot, then how can you or I be here? This book argues that the key to understanding selves and consciousness is a special kind of abstract feedback loop inhabiting our brains. Deep down, a human brain is a chaotic soup of particles, on a higher level it is a jungle of neurons, and on a yet higher level it is a network of abstractions that we call "symbols." The most central and complex symbol in your brain or mine is the one we both call "I." But how can such a mysterious abstraction be real--or is our "I" merely a convenient fiction?--From publisher description.

Preface: an author and his book -- An affable locking of horns -- On souls and their sizes -- This teetering bulb of dread and dream -- The causal potency of patterns -- Loops, goals, and loopholes -- On video feedback -- Of selves and symbols -- The epi phenomenon -- Embarking on a strange-loop safari -- Pattern and provability -- Gödel's quintessential strange loop -- How analogy makes meaning -- On downward causality -- The elusive apple of my "I" -- Strangeness in the "I" of the beholder -- Entwinement -- Grappling with the deepest mystery -- How we live in each other -- The blurry glow of human identity -- Consciousness = thinking -- A courteous crossing of words -- A brief brush with Cartesian egos -- A tango with zombies and dualism -- Killing a couple of sacred cows -- On magnanimity and friendship -- Epilogue: the quandary.