# Strange loop A strange loop, a term coined by Douglas Hofstadter, is a cyclic structure that passes upward or inward through a hierarchy of levels and yet unexpectedly arrives back where it started — the system appears to refer to itself even though every individual step only ever moves to an adjacent level. ## Microsim — queued <p class="wt-pending"><strong>Microsim/diagram layer in the draft queue.</strong> Troy is building the interactive station for this concept by hand; the sourced overview below is complete and citable now.</p> ## Overview Hofstadter used the strange loop to argue that self-reference in formal systems, in Gödel's incompleteness theorems, and in the brain's own [[Feedback|feedback]] circuitry could together give rise to the subjective sense of "I." The idea sits near, but is not identical to, the closed causal path of a [[Causal_loop_diagram|causal loop]] and the escalating self-reinforcement of a [[Vicious_circle|vicious circle]]: a strange loop's return to its origin is structural and hierarchical rather than a chain of cause and effect. **On the spine:** [[Causal_loop_diagram]] · [[Feedback]] · [[Vicious_circle]] · [[Systems_theory]]. ## Wikipedia : Wikitube **Strict pair:** [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strange_loop) : [Wikitube](https://en.wikitube.io/wiki/Strange_loop) ## Previous hub tags Hubs: `Systems`. Portals: [[PORTAL_Causal_loop_diagram]]. --- *Repopulated 2026-08-05 · text transfer · 0 deletions.*