Current Reading

I have currently been reading a book entitled "I Am A Strange Loop" by Douglas R. Hofstadter. The best way I could describe the book is that it is an exploration in to scientific underlings of consciousness. The "I" in the title refers to the concept of self or being. Basically, the title is saying "the concept of self is a strange loop." At this point you're probably confused by the "strange loop" part of the title. If you want to know what the author is trying to get at, I would recommend reading the book because I could never explain the concept as well as he does. The way I look at it is that we think because we're conscious and we're conscious because we think. It is this self reference that is the "strange loop" the author is hinting at.

I have always had a deep interest in philosophical thought and more specifically, how self-awareness arises from a few basic rules of the universe. If everything is broken down to the lowest fundamental levels we (humans) know of, all existence is the result of atoms banging around. Two or more atoms form molecules, molecules can be arranged in to complex systems, complex systems can result in basic biological systems, multiple biological systems working in unison allow for the existence of life and somehow life has the property of consciousness. Over the past few years I have been troubled more and more how my consciousness arises through this ordering of systems. The book I am reading is one person's thoughts on this very topic and thus far I am in awe to the insight Hofstadter has on the topic.

I will end this post with one of my favorite quotes. I would encourage you to read and reflect on it.

"Search back into your own vision--think back to the mind that thinks. Who is it?" -- Wu-men

About Myself and the Purpose of This Blog

Hi, my name is Mike and I'm a Senior at The University of Southern Mississippi.

The purpose of this blog is to fulfill a writing requirement for an English Composition II course that I'm currently enrolled in. I am not a big fan of writing because it takes a lot of time for me to write something I'm satisfied with. I usually hack away at the same sentence or paragraph for an excruciatingly long time before I'm satisfied with what's written. I know my writing is nothing that will turn heads but I do feel that my meticulousness yields decently written work.

One of the requirements of this class assignment is to publish one blog post per week. Since there are 15 weeks this semester, that means there will (hopefully) be 15 blog posts by the end of this year. Let's hope I make it there!