{"id":46609,"date":"2026-07-31T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/?p=46609"},"modified":"2026-07-24T09:00:41","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T16:00:41","slug":"book-freak-220-the-minds-i","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/book-freak-220-the-minds-i\/","title":{"rendered":"Book Freak #220: The Mind\u2019s I"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Get The Mind\u2019s I<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Mind’s I<\/em>, edited by Douglas Hofstadter and Daniel Dennett, collects 27 stories and essays that explore three questions: \u201cWhat is the mind?\u201d \u201cWho am I?\u201d and \u201cCan machines think?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It has pieces by Jorge Luis Borges, with a man dreamed into existence in “The Circular Ruins” and the vertiginous “Borges and I.” Stanis\u0142aw Lem contributes “The Seventh Sally,” about tiny beings who beg their maker not to switch off their world. Alan Turing asks whether a machine can think; Richard Dawkins writes on selfish genes and memes; and Thomas Nagel wonders what it is like to be a bat. Dennett narrates his own brain being separated from his body in “Where Am I?” After each piece, the two editors add a “Reflection.” This is one of my favorite books, and one I have returned to for over 40 years. Sadly, all the essays were written by men.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Core Principles<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

1. What Is It Like to Be You?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Thomas Nagel\u2019s famous essay asks: \u201cWhat is it like to be a bat?\u201d His answer: we can\u2019t know, because consciousness has an irreducibly subjective character. There is \u201csomething it is like\u201d to be a conscious creature \u2014 and that something can\u2019t be fully captured from the outside. The same mystery applies to every other mind, including the person sitting next to you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. The Self Is a Strange Loop<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Who is the \u201cI\u201d that thinks your thoughts? Hofstadter suggests the self is a kind of strange loop \u2014 a pattern that refers back to itself, emerging from the brain’s physical processes but not reducible to them. You are not your neurons, but you are not separate from them either. The self is something the brain does.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Thought Experiments Reveal Hidden Assumptions<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Can a computer think? Could you be a brain in a vat? What if you were teleported \u2014would the person who arrives still be you? These questions expose hidden assumptions we carry about mind, soul, and identity. The book uses fiction and fantasy to crack open questions that dry philosophy can\u2019t reach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. The View from Nowhere Is Incomplete<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Science seeks objectivity \u2014 a \u201cview from nowhere.\u201d But when applied to the mind, this approach leaves out something essential: the view from somewhere, the fact that experience is always someone\u2019s experience. Any complete account of reality must include the subjective, not just the objective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Try It Now<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
  1. Try to imagine what it\u2019s like to be someone radically different from you (even a bat) \u2014 not what you would experience in their situation, but what they experience.<\/li>
  2. Ask yourself: who is the \u201cI\u201d that is reading this sentence? Can you locate it? What happens when you look?<\/li>
  3. Consider a thought experiment: if a perfect copy of you were made, would it be you? What does your answer reveal about what you think identity is?<\/li>
  4. Notice something you\u2019re certain about regarding your own mind. Now ask: how would you prove it to someone else?<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Quote<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cAn organism has conscious mental states if and only if there is something that it is like to be that organism\u2014something it is like for the organism. \u2014 Thomas Nagel\u2019\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

    \n\n\n\n

    Book Freak is published by Cool Tools Lab, a small company of three people. We also run\u00a0Recomendo<\/a>, the\u00a0Cool Tools website<\/a>, a\u00a0YouTube channel<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0podcast<\/a>, and other newsletters, including\u00a0Recomendo Deals<\/a>,\u00a0Gar\u2019s Tips & Tools<\/a>,\u00a0Nomadico<\/a>,\u00a0What\u2019s in my NOW?<\/a>,\u00a0Tools for Possibilities<\/a>,\u00a0Books That Belong On Paper<\/a>, and\u00a0Book Freak<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Hofstadter and Dennett on the Strange Loop of Self and Consciousness<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":47588,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[76],"tags":[2384],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46609"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/47588"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46609"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46609\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46612,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46609\/revisions\/46612"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}