Hofstadter points out that researcher's goals can have major gulfs between them. Even though some research projects may seem to be related, they can have extremely different focuses and methodology. He distinguishes between two types of researchers: those who are interested in results and those who are interested in the essence of abstract qualia. By the way the section is written, it seems Hofstadter places himself in the latter category.
Although both types of research are needed and can benefit science in important ways, I believe it is more advantageous toward understanding the mind to look into the more abstract concepts, such as intelligence and creativity, as Hofstadter mentions. It is not only important to study the basic components of the mind in regards to mathematical sequencing and musical composition (which may be somewhat redundant) but it can also benefit every other research project related to human endeavor. By further understanding how humans can create unique ideas or artifacts and how they can manipulate stored or incoming information in such a way as to denote intelligence, however you define it, we can gain great insight into countless other fields and topics.
As Hofstadter writes, big, flashy complicated systems that can solve complex problems can be enormously beneficial to society but it is pertinent to fully grasp the how and why of that system, in terms of its most basic elements. Just as it is important to figure out the segmentation and unification of data in numerical sequencing problems, it is important to understand the basis for human thought patterns to better discover what the mind truly is and how it operates.
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