From: Eliezer S. Yudkowsky (sentience@pobox.com)
Date: Sun Mar 11 2001 - 21:06:35 MST
Jim Fehlinger wrote:
>
> Eliezer says about the "Great Holy Book" (_Godel, Escher, Bach_) "This
> book is mandatory reading for all members of the human species." Dare
> I confess I haven't read it? Of course, I listened to people saying all
> through the 80's how wonderful it is, but the title immediately put me off.
> The suggestion "I'm a wunderkind mathematician and computer scientist,
> but I know all about art too, and I'm going to show you how the former
> illuminates the latter while dazzling you with my erudition"
For Ifni's sake, Jim, how on Earth did you manage to wind up with this
weirdo prejudice? This bears no relation whatsoever to reality.
Remember, _GEB_ was Hofstadter's *first* work, produced *before*
Hofstadter became the grand patron saint of AI. _GEB_ is *not*, in any
remote sense of the word, artsy-fartsy or critic-pleasing or show-offy or
self-indulgent. There is no trace of it. Hofstadter's later work, having
been produced by a Pulitzer-prize-winning author, may not meet that
standard - I particularly don't recommend "Le Ton beau de Marot" - but the
Great Eternal Book is without flaw.
Now READ.
-- -- -- -- --
Eliezer S. Yudkowsky http://singinst.org/
Research Fellow, Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence
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