Douglas Hofstadter A living polymath

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Son of a Nobel prize winner and member of a family in which every generation surpass the previous one, Douglas Hofstadter shows talent in a vast amount of areas as the polymath geniuses from the past like Leonardo Da Vinci.

His knowledge includes but is not limited to: mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, psychology, formal logic, computer programming, artificial intelligence, music and graphic arts.

An ornament to the human race filled up with goodness

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[ZombieJesusBrainz]

@falsedichotomies He discovered chaos in quantum orbitals in his PhD thesis - the first such discovery of chaotic effects anywhere in Quantum Mechanics, taught himself Russian to translate Pushkin into English -> that translation is now considered canonical, is considered an authority on Analogical reasoning in Artificial Intelligence. If that is not a polymath, then the word is meaningless.

[PetuniaWinehousen]

Yes! I agree.

See? He's smart. Learn something from him.

[gjjackson1968]

Vote Douglas Hofstadter for U.S. President.

[thegeffc]

Very enjoyable thank you

[clairebehun]

Very enjoyable thank you

[Cassyan]

@Atmosfferic And btw, great line there "a blueprint without a pair of eyes to read it is dead" -- couldn't agree more.

[Cassyan]

@Atmosfferic I'm with you here. What is an "altruistic" being? If he's talking only about other mammals, then who can define "altruism"? "Altruism" is a human concept. If humans would dissappear, the "altruistic character" of those other beings would be meaningless. Love it or hate it, in that respect the man IS the measure of all things. So how can he say we humans are not the most important? Provocative statement but it doesn't impress me. Being so smart he could do better.

[nobodady1]

I think those altruistic creatures may kill us all to save themselves --- and if they did so, would this be immoral?

[DyzLecticus]

@Atmosfferic

I recommend reading Godel Escher Bach, it might help you become a better designer.

"Mechanical machinery cannot mend itself nor reproduce itself"

To some extent this has already been done ... but please keep saying; "You cannot go to the moon!" to keep us challanged.

[powerdriller10]

Young Hofstadter looked like young Turing, and now old Hofstadter looks like old Carl Sagan.

[Atmosfferic]

Intelligent human beings ,are getting more so, & SURVIVAL has &always will be the critical watchword..they will sense danger -(he's overlooked -"only Ignorant animals go round killing each other." why does he say we-(including himself?) Mother Nature ,the creator ALWAYS has a plan. Mechanical machinery cannot mend itself nor reproduce itself.I am a Designer,I have found this. A Blueprint without a pair of EYES to Read it-A mind to comprehend &understand it.,& a pair of hands to make it, is DEAD