Defining Recursion Algorithmically

This is too much text to twitter, so it finds a home on my blog. From Andrew Plotkin via Wikipedia:

"If you already know what recursion is, just remember the answer. Otherwise, find someone who is standing closer to Douglas Hofstadter than you are; then ask him or her what recursion is."
Allowed html tags: br p blockquote i b em code strong u ol ul li a
(type "human" here)