“God over Djinn”, better known by its acronym “God”, is a concept of recursive acronyms introduced in a chapter of Douglas Hofstadter’s book Gödel, Escher, Bach, “Simple Harmonic Laberynth”. The term “God” is defined as “God over Djinn”, where “Djinn” stands for “Djinn over God”. This creates a self-referential loop, as “God” refers to “Djinn”, and “Djinn” refers back to “God”.
It is introduced in a recursive dialogue between two characters, Achilles and the Tortoise, who discuss the nature of self-reference and recursion. The dialogue explores how definitions can be nested within each other, leading to complex and often paradoxical situations.
