This is a 2020 interview from Through the Gates. We talk about why computer translation is not great, and how true computer intelligence would be a “nightmarish scenario.” True cognition is something that took billions of years to evolve.

Also, a discussion of Hofstadter’s love of language, and of lipograms, including his “stripped-e’s” performance, a biography missing a crucial letter in the English language:

At thirty-two, with my book on its way but still not out, I took a job at Indiana U. in Bloomington, thanks in part to its famous music school, and also to its florid, woodsy campus, but most of all to its warmth and cordiality. “Go for folks who go for you!”, was my Dad’s simplistic but catchy motto (I’m paraphrasing his words to adapt to this situation, naturally, but that was its gist) – and I took his tip, for though it was corny, it was sagacious, too.

As AI had advanced beyond where we talked about it in 2020, it seems worth re-listening to this interview for some perspective.

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