15
Part II: EGBChapter 15
Jumping out of the System
Can humans escape their own logic? The Lucas argument.
If computers are formal systems, and formal systems have limits (Gödel), are humans superior to computers? Some argue yes, because we can 'jump out' of the system and see the truth that the computer cannot prove. Hofstadter argues that this is an illusion; we are just much more complex systems, and we too have our own Gödelian blind spots.
THE SYSTEM
I can prove things within my axioms. I cannot see outside myself.