New user here, so far extremely gratified at what I have encountered. I’ve had a sort of a fetish for feedback/self-referential systems ever since reading Hoffstadter’s “Godel, Escher, Bach” as a kid. While I no longer really agree with much in this work, at the time it was mind-blowing. I remember clearly the vision I had of the all-but-unlimited power of feedback loops and iterated functions. What I’m trying to get at is that, while all* online forums, etc, are intrinsically self-referential, this one seems to be so in a special sense. Regardless of the content of a forum, perusal of the material initiates certain thought processes which lead to further discussion, ie, addition to and alteration of the content. This is the trivial sense.
From what I have seen, the content here is in the main devoted to examination and refinement of these thought processes (and also improving explication), for the purpose of engendering more fruitful discussion.
Not sure if i’m getting my point across, or if it’s worth making at all, but that’s what i’m here to explore!
Welcome to Less Wrong! I don’t know that the forum itself is self-referential, but you’ll certainly find other fans of self-referentiality here, myself included.
Hello all.
New user here, so far extremely gratified at what I have encountered. I’ve had a sort of a fetish for feedback/self-referential systems ever since reading Hoffstadter’s “Godel, Escher, Bach” as a kid. While I no longer really agree with much in this work, at the time it was mind-blowing. I remember clearly the vision I had of the all-but-unlimited power of feedback loops and iterated functions.
What I’m trying to get at is that, while all* online forums, etc, are intrinsically self-referential, this one seems to be so in a special sense. Regardless of the content of a forum, perusal of the material initiates certain thought processes which lead to further discussion, ie, addition to and alteration of the content. This is the trivial sense. From what I have seen, the content here is in the main devoted to examination and refinement of these thought processes (and also improving explication), for the purpose of engendering more fruitful discussion.
Not sure if i’m getting my point across, or if it’s worth making at all, but that’s what i’m here to explore!
Welcome to Less Wrong!
I don’t know that the forum itself is self-referential, but you’ll certainly find other fans of self-referentiality here, myself included.