An Intreduction to Godel, Escher Bach

I have just recently started reading a New book named, “Gödel, Escher Bach” (Or GEB for short) by  Douglass R. Hofstadter. This enormous Novel discuses a diverse variety of topics ranging from neurology (Related to the study of the Brain), Zen Buddhism, and visual art, to paradoxes, physics and mathematical logic: (The study of logical reasoning eg; Representing thought process and argument, as a series of fundamental statements, and assertions). The purpose of GEB however, can be best described by Hofstadter himself when he said “In a word, GEB is a very personal attempt to say how it is that animate being can come out of inanimate matter. What is a self, and how can a self come out of stuff that is as selfless as a stone or a puddle? What is an ‘I’ and why are such things found (At least so far) only in association with, as poet Russell Edson once wonderfully phrased it, ‘teeting bulbs of dread and dream’- that is, only in association with certain kinds of gooey lumps encased in hard protective shells, mounted atop mobile pedestals that roam the world on pairs of slightly fuzzy, jointed stilts”

What a paragraph! So how does animate being come out of inanimate matter? Or in simpler terms how does life come out of “not life”? After all humans and other living things are only a composition of atoms alike, so how and why, are we able to make references and relations? Why do we have such a strong sense of awareness and consciousness? Every day we go on with our lives experiencing this and that, but all from a certain perspective, “Our perspective”, but why should a composition of atoms ever have a “perspective”!?. And what is a perspective anyway? (Perhaps consciousness would be a better word rather than perspective). Well that is a enormous question that took Hofstadter over 850 pages to address. It would be silly to expect anyone to come up with a complete answer, given any amount of time.  So my question to you is: How might one go about beginning answering a question like this? How would you start? And do you think the answers are worth the time?  The purpose of such a query is mearly to get you thinking, and hopefully intrigued.  I’ve read about 60 pages of GEB, and already I have been informed of approaches in answering some of the questions above.  If you want to find more about these fundamental questions, click the link below. The link will bring you to a YouTube video showing the first of a series of MIT lectures discussing GEB.  After watching some of the lecture videos, if you feel interested and prepared, I strongly recommend reading Gödel Escher Bach.

Here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jFhq3Rj6DI