Egbert B. Gebstadter
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Egbert B. Gebstadter is a fictional author who appears in the indices (and sometimes in the text) of books by Douglas R. Hofstadter. For each Hofstadter book, there is a corresponding Gebstadter book. His name is derived from "GEB", the abbreviation for Hofstadter's first book ''
Gödel, Escher, Bach ''Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid'' (abbreviated as ''GEB'') is a 1979 nonfiction book by American cognitive scientist Douglas Hofstadter. By exploring common themes in the lives and works of logician Kurt Gödel, artist M. C. Esc ...
: An Eternal Golden Braid''; the letters appear in his last name, permuted in his first name, and permuted again in his initials.


Overview

From Gebstadter's brief 1985 biography: :Having spent the last several years in the Psychology Department of Pakistania University in Wiltington, Pakistania, he has recently joined the faculty of the Computer Science Department of the University of Mishuggan in Tom Treeline, Mishuggan, where he occupies the
Rexall Rexall was a chain of American drugstores, and the name of their store-branded products. The stores, having roots in the federation of United Drug Stores starting in 1903, licensed the Rexall brand name to as many as 12,000 drug stores across t ...
Chair in the College of Art, Sciences, and Letters. His current research projects in IA (intelligent artifice) are Quest-Essence, Mind-Pattern, Intellect and Studio. His focus is on deterministic sequential models of digital emotion. The equivalent section of Hofstadter's brief 1985 biography: :Having spent the last several years in the Computer Science Department of
Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a state university system, system of Public university, public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. The system has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration o ...
in
Bloomington, Indiana Bloomington is a city in Monroe County, Indiana, United States, and its county seat. The population was 79,168 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is the List of municipalities in Indiana, seventh-most populous city in Indiana and ...
, he has recently joined the faculty of the
Psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...
Department of the
University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...
in
Ann Arbor, Michigan Ann Arbor is a city in Washtenaw County, Michigan, United States, and its county seat. The 2020 United States census, 2020 census recorded its population to be 123,851, making it the List of municipalities in Michigan, fifth-most populous cit ...
, where he occupies the Walgreen Chair in the College of Literature, Science and the Arts. His current research projects in AI (
artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is the capability of computer, computational systems to perform tasks typically associated with human intelligence, such as learning, reasoning, problem-solving, perception, and decision-making. It is a field of re ...
) are called Seek-Whence, Letter Spirit, Copycat and Jumbo. His focus is on stochastic parallel models of analogical thought. Most of Gebstadter's books are published by Acidic Books, a fictional publisher in
Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...
,
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
; which corresponds to Hofstadter's publisher
Basic Books Basic Books is a book publisher founded in 1950 and located in New York City, now an imprint of Hachette Book Group. It publishes books in the fields of psychology, philosophy, economics, science, politics, sociology, current affairs, and his ...
of
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...
. Gebstadter's first book is described in GEB as follows: :Gebstadter, Egbert B. ''Copper, Silver, Gold: an Indestructible Metallic Alloy.'' Perth: Acidic Books, 1979. A formidable hodge-podge, turgid and confused -- yet remarkably similar to the present work. Professor Gebstadter's Shandean digressions include some excellent examples of indirect self-reference. Of particular interest is a reference in its well-annotated bibliography to an isomorphic, but imaginary, book. (According to GEB, the phrase "turgid and confused" was used about the works of
Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (German: Help:IPA/Standard German, joːhan zeˈbasti̯an baχ ( – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque music, Baroque period. He is known for his prolific output across a variety ...
by his contemporaries.) CSG is also referred to in the text of GEB itself as ''Giraffes, Elephants, Baboons: An Equatorial Grasslands Bestiary'', which maintains the "GEB: An EGB" acronym. Or perhaps this is a different work by Gebstadter altogether: the evidence is incomplete. CSG is also referred to in Aria with Diverse Variations, a dialogue in GEB. Achilles and the Tortoise are trying to remember the name of an amateur mathematician, Achilles (incorrectly) suggests "Kupfergödel" and "Silberescher", then Mr Tortoise recalls Goldbach". Half-translated from German, these names are "copper Gödel", "silver Escher" and "gold
Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (German: joːhan zeˈbasti̯an baχ ( – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his prolific output across a variety of instruments and forms, including the or ...
", respectively. Gebstadter's second book is an anthology co-edited with the Australian philosopher Denial E. Dunnitt entitled ''The Brain's U: Phantoms and Mirror-Images of Selfless Souls'', and appears in the bibliography of ''
The Mind's I ''The Mind's I: Fantasies and Reflections on Self and Soul'' is a 1981 collection of essays and other texts about the nature of the mind and the self, edited with commentary by philosophers Douglas R. Hofstadter and Daniel C. Dennett. The tex ...
: Fantasies and Reflections on Self and Soul'', edited by Hofstadter and
Daniel Dennett Daniel Clement Dennett III (March 28, 1942 – April 19, 2024) was an American philosopher and cognitive scientist. His research centered on the philosophy of mind, the philosophy of science, and the philosophy of biology, particularly as those ...
. The Gebstadter bibliography on the website for Stepford Ninniversity's "Residential Pictures in Mundanities and Artifice" gives the subtitle as ''Fairy Tales and Rotations on Ego and Anima''. Gebstadter's third book appears in the bibliography to Hofstadter's third book, ''
Metamagical Themas ''Metamagical Themas'' is an eclectic collection of articles that Douglas Hofstadter wrote for the popular science magazine ''Scientific American'' during the early 1980s. The anthology was published in 1985 by Basic Books. The volume is subst ...
: Questing for the Essence of Mind and Pattern''. This is a collection of Hofstadter's monthly columns from ''
Scientific American ''Scientific American'', informally abbreviated ''SciAm'' or sometimes ''SA'', is an American popular science magazine. Many scientists, including Albert Einstein and Nikola Tesla, have contributed articles to it, with more than 150 Nobel Pri ...
'' with postscripts written specially for the book. :Gebstadter, Egbert B. ''Thetamagical Memas: Seeking the Whence of Letter and Spirit.'' Perth: Acidic Books, 1985. A curious pot-pourri, bloated and muddled -- yet remarkably similar to the present work. This is a collection of Gebstadter's monthly rows in ''Literary Australian'' and a few other articles, all with prescripts. Gebstadter is well known for his love of twisty analogies, such as this one (unfortunately not found in his book): "Egbert B. Gebstadter is the Egbert B. Gebstadter of indirect self-reference." Gebstadter's fourth book, presumably in Italian, is entitled ''Ambifoni: un minimondo ottimo per lo studio della scopertività'', published by Hopeless Mobster, Tokyo, in 1987. This book is referenced by Hofstadter in his Italian book ''Ambigrammi: un microcosmo ideale per lo studio della creatività'', published by Hopeful Monster, Florence in the same year. Hofstadter's book contains a fictional dialogue between Hofstadter and Gebstadter.Stanford Presidential Lectures in the Humanities and Arts: Selected Annotated Bibliography of Douglas R. Hofstadter
/ref> Curiously, there is no mention of Gebstadter's fifth book in Hofstadter's ''
Fluid Concepts and Creative Analogies ''Fluid Concepts and Creative Analogies: Computer Models of the Fundamental Mechanisms of Thought'' is a 1995 book by Douglas Hofstadter and other members of the Fluid Analogies Research Group exploring the mechanisms of intelligence through compu ...
: Computer Models of the Fundamental Mechanisms of Thought''. However, rumor has it that it is entitled ''Stagnant Notions and Derivative Metaphors: Anthropomorphic Models of the Mechanical Fundaments of Computation'', a collection of articles on the research of Gebstadter and his colleagues at the University of Mishuggan's Stagnant Metaphors User Group. Reviewers have supposedly described it as "an eclectic jumble, distended and unfocused," and some have suggested that Hofstadter's Fluid Analogies Research Group was reluctant to give recognition to the work of a rival lab which they sometimes referred to as "those SMUG copycats." Gebstadter's sixth book is called ''The Graced Tone of Clément: A la louange de la mélodie des mots'', and is referred to in Hofstadter's book ''
Le Ton beau de Marot ''Le Ton beau de Marot: In Praise of the Music of Language'' is a 1997 book by Douglas Hofstadter in which he explores the meaning, strengths, failings and beauty of translation. The book is a long and detailed examination of translations of a mi ...
: In Praise of the Music of Language''. Hofstadter's corresponding book is in English despite its French title, and we may conjecture that Gebstadter's book is in French despite its English title. This is supported by the fact that this book was published not by Acidic Books but by the equally fictional and palindromic Éditions Noitide in Cahors, France. Gebstadter's seventh book is ''U Are an Odd Ball'' (Perth: Acidic Books, 2007), referenced in Hofstadter's ''
I Am A Strange Loop ''I Am a Strange Loop'' is a 2007 book by Douglas Hofstadter, examining in depth the concept of a '' strange loop'' to explain the sense of "I". The concept of a ''strange loop'' was originally developed in his 1979 book ''Gödel, Escher, Bach'' ...
''.


References


External links


Profile of Gebstadter from Stepford Ninniversity
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gebstadter, Egbert B. Fictional writers Running gags In-jokes Alter egos