Page "Strange loop" Paragraph 7

The " strangeness " of a strange loop comes from our way of perception, because we categorize our input in a small number of ' symbols ' ( by which Hofstadter means groups of neurons standing for one thing in the outside world ).

So the difference between the video-feedback loop and our strange loops, our " I " s, is that while the former converts light to the same pattern on a screen, the latter categorizes a pattern and outputs its essence, so that as we get closer and closer to our essence, we get further down our strange loop ( according to Hofstadter's book ' I am a Strange Loop ').