To illustrate what is meant by a "mental topology" of "conceptual halos", Hofstader observes that the concept of "contact" is surrounded by a halo of concepts including "call on a phone", "go to see", and "write".
Such a mental topology can be explained in the subsymbolic framework, where conceptual halos are understood as overlapping regions in the abstract space.
Note: Also, see the "Can a symbolic knowledge base represent human understanding?" arguments on Map 3.
Douglas Hofstadter, 1988. |