Agreed on the weakness of Hofstadter’s core message, but for another reason. While self-awareness is one feature that is often referred to as “consciousness”, it isn’t the biggest trouble-maker. The “qualia” of experience can occur without self-awareness, and probably even in organisms utterly lacking in self-awareness. The subjective feels have been the biggest stumbling block to philosophical progress, and turning away from them (or worse, thinking that they amount to a kind of self-reference) doesn’t help the reductionist cause.
Agreed on the weakness of Hofstadter’s core message, but for another reason. While self-awareness is one feature that is often referred to as “consciousness”, it isn’t the biggest trouble-maker. The “qualia” of experience can occur without self-awareness, and probably even in organisms utterly lacking in self-awareness. The subjective feels have been the biggest stumbling block to philosophical progress, and turning away from them (or worse, thinking that they amount to a kind of self-reference) doesn’t help the reductionist cause.