I think of it more as a survey of a bunch of disciplines, and some hopeful hypothesis of future AI research. He writes in an accessible way and touches DNA, po

I think of it more as a survey of a bunch of disciplines, and some hopeful hypothesis of future AI research. He writes in an accessible way and touches DNA, poetry, fractals, video feedback, topographical systems, just... a whole bunch of things. It is for sure reaching, but his core conceit is about pattern recognition and emergent behavior and he throws everything he's got at the wall there through the eyes of his interests because he KNOWS there is something there, even if Godel could describe it in a 19 page paper decades before. That some of this is obvious in hindsight almost 50 years later does not discredit the bizarrely singular nature of his effort, maybe the same way Seinfeld seems corny now.