A strange loop is a combination of traits that creates the condition for selfhood. Categories of numerous symbols derive meaning from raw stimuli. Categorization leads to perception rather than reception. Abstractions create reality and high-level behavior no longer consists of lower-level behavior only. The loop reinforces the idea of the ‘self’ and the self feels the most real.
From I Am a Strange Loop.
See also:
- Godel incompleteness theorem shows that a strange loop can arise from inert systems by creating meaning through analogy
- The strange loop is the jump to universality for knowledge—categories of symbols that can represent an infinite set of ideas and thoughts
Links to this note
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Every Human Consciousness Lives at Once in a Collection of Brains
Because the human brain is a universal machine, it contains multiple strange loops that are coarse-grained copies of other strange loops housed in other brains at varying degrees of fidelity. Those you resonate most with in life (family member, a spouse, etc.) you know so well you can almost feel their feelings, recall their memories, and experience the world they would. These can not be explained by mere rote memory (perception is not reception and awareness) but something more closely resembling our own self-hood.