strange loop

[ streynj loop ]

noun

1. Logic, Mathematics. a phenomenon created by the presence of self-referential statements in a complex logical or mathematical system, which renders the system incapable of proving all of the true statements it produces.
2. a speculative model of how the self emerges as the source of thought, operating seemingly in a closed loop of its own mental representations of reality, while at the same time, paradoxically, being grounded in and generated from a purely physical loop of neurons and stimuli.

Word History and Origins

Origin of strange loop¹

First recorded in 1960–65 as a phenomenon in physics