Natural Science 0227 - Godel, Escher, Bach

Music, art and mathematics share a deeply creative and aesthetic core. They all involve exploring reality within the confines of a created set of rules, and they all hold the potential to reveal powerful truths about the nature of the world, the universe, and human consciousness. The book Godel, Escher, Bach is an intellectual tour-de-force that explores the relationships between these three areas while at the same time drawing connections to many other fascinating topics such as genetics, Zen Buddhism, and artificial intelligence. It is also delightfully playful and is itself a true work of art. At the core of the book is Godel's Incompleteness Theorem, one of the most important and far-reaching theorems of 20th century mathematics with many philosophical ramifications. To come to an understanding of this theorem and why it is true will take us into the rabbit hole and beyond! Keywords:Math, Music, Art, Logic, Computer Science

Students should expect to spend 6-8 hours weekly on work and preparation outside of class time. BOOKS: Title:Godel, Escher, Bach Author:Douglas Hofstadter ISBN:978-0-465-02656-2 Cost:$13.00