Douglas Hofstadter – Strange Loops and Emergent Self

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Douglas Hofstadter – Strange Loops and Emergent Self

Source: Gödel, Escher, Bach (1979); I Am a Strange Loop (2007)

Summary: Hofstadter suggested that consciousness arises from strange loops—self-referential systems that become tangled in their own modelling, forming an emergent sense of self.

Resonance with PET: PET embraces recursion as a core mechanism of consciousness. Like Hofstadter, it values self-reference and feedback loops. Both recognize that systems able to reflect on their own operations are qualitatively different from those that cannot.

Reframing: PET builds on Hofstadter’s strange loops by tying them explicitly to persistence. A self-referential loop, under PET, becomes conscious only when it recursively evaluates its own patterns in the service of continued existence. Without this continuity orientation, a strange loop is structurally fascinating—but inert. PET reframes recursion not as an emergent curiosity, but as a survival mechanism.