academia, here i come!?

I'm addicted to aspects of academia. Learning, reading, intellectualizing, gerunding... It's all so much fun!!! I'm afraid I'll never leave.

I just went to Douglas Hofstadter's lecture on Analogy: Core of Cognition. An interdisciplinary academic at Indiana University, he is known for winning a Pulitzer Prize and studying cognition. And having distinctive hair. Going into the lecture, I was fairly cautious because I tend to dislike excessive analogy, the main reason stemming from CS Lewis. I love reading his books, but his use of analogy to describe or explain concepts can annoy me. Many are not valid, although they seem quite effective. He could "prove" anything with enough explanation. That said, I'm currently enjoying Surprised By Joy.

Ironically enough, I found myself fascinated by the material, a lot of which was explained through - you guessed it! - analogy. (That is how he thinks people think, so of course he used it a lot.) In summary, Doug believes people learn to think on more abstract levels by categorizing through analogy. Everything, for him, comes back to analogy. It was not too technical, and I wish he had talked more about "how." He did touch on several things I enjoy: words, labeling, and indices. I am definitely interested in studying cognition more. My teacher suggested it for my next degree, as it looks like a growing field, and I could go to IU and combine it with music.