- **Explain the Role of Gödel, Escher, Bach:** Why unite these disparate themes if the goal is the "I"-loop? - **Isomorphism/Analogy:** Hofstadter uses them to show that the same abstract structure (self-reference leading to paradox or emergence) can appear in vastly different domains. This strengthens the argument that such a structure could also operate in the brain, even though the brain's substrate (neurons) is different from mathematical axioms, ink on paper, or musical notes. - **Levels of Description:** GEB constantly plays with moving between different levels of description (e.g., the formal rules of a system vs. the meaning that emerges; the individual notes vs. the overall fugue; the neurons vs. the conscious thought). This mirrors the hierarchical nature required for strange loops. - **Demonstrating Complexity & Emergence:** By showing how intricate and unexpected phenomena (undecidability, visual paradox, complex musical structure) arise from relatively simple rules applied recursively, he builds the case that something as complex as consciousness could similarly emerge from the recursive application of neural processing rules.