Hofstadter, Dennett - The Mind's I

The Princess Ineffabelle 99disappointed because the King had come so close to being locked up in the Black Box,and the Lord High Thaumaturge could have kept him there forever. . . .RefelectionsThis is the first of three selections in our book by the Polish writer and philosopherStanislaw Lem . We have used the published translations by Michael Kandel, and beforecommenting on Lem’s ideas, we must pay tribute to Kandel for his ingenious conversionsof sparkling Polish wordplay into sparkling English wordplay. All through The Cyberiad(from which this story was taken), this high level of translation is maintained. In readingtranslations like this one, we are reminded how woefully far the current programs formachine translation are from snatching jobs away from people.Lem has had a lifelong interest in the questions we raise in this book. His intuitiveand literary approach perhaps does a better job of convincing readers of his views thanany hard-nosed scientific article or arcanely reasoned philosophical paper might do.As for his story, we think it speaks for itself. We would just like to know onething: what is the difference between a simulated song and a real song?D.R.H.