The widely known author of Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid argues that every concept in our minds arises from an accumulation of analogies stretching back to our earliest childhood, and that thinking–the pinpointing of the right concept at the right time–is the result of a relentless swarm of unconscious analogy-makers competing with each other. He will offer many examples, including errors of diction, expanding spheres of word meanings, proverbs as situation labels, the sudden bubbling-up of buried memories, and counter intuitive leaps that constitute the pinnacle of creative human thought.

Hosted by: Department of History,  Department of Molecular and Integrative Physiology

In conjunction with: Beckman Institute, Campus Honors Program, Center for Biophysics and Computational Biology, Department of Bioengineering, Department of Computer Science, Department of Educational Psychology, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Department of English, Department of Mathematics, Department of Philosophy, Department of Physics, Department of Psychology, Department of Sociology, Graduate School of Library and Information Science, Krannert Art Museum, Neuroscience Program, Program in Science, Technology, Information, and Medicine, School of Music, Unit for Criticism and Interpretive Theory

WILL-AM580 FOCUS interview with Douglas Hofstadter