News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:Ask HN: Works of fiction that have inspired you to solve ... by berlinquin on Saturday February 27, 2021 @02:44PM (#26287547)
GEB is pretty dense. Comparing GEB to short stories by Borges, I feel like Borges is able to capture the same ideas (recursion, infinite permutations) in a more engaging way and at a fraction of GEB's length.
Re:Ask HN: Works of fiction that have inspired you to solve ... by jimmyvalmer on Saturday February 27, 2021 @03:14PM (#26287745)
Or... just read about fixed point recursion. It's hard enough hitting a nail on the head, much more so when you've limited yourself to a socket wrench for its "abstract, literary" qualities.
Re:Ask HN: Works of fiction that have inspired you to solve ... by marttt on Saturday February 27, 2021 @11:03PM (#26290573)
This is anecdotal, can't find the reference, but I think Hofstadter himself later considered "I Am a Strange Loop" (2007, a mere 412 pages) a better explanation of the ideas he had laid out in GEB.