The Emperor's New Mind: Concerning Computers, Minds, and the Laws of Physics (Oxford Landmark Science)

The Emperor’s New Mind contrasts two theories of mind, that of strong AI and an alternative being somewhat tentatively put forward by Prof. Penrose. The focus of the book is on consciousness. With respect to minds, there are many different perspectives, such as that of free will, and the “mind-body” problem, in the context of Descartes’ philosophy, but Prof. Penrose prefers to confine his discussion to viewpoints of greatest relevance to the nature of consciousness. He views strong AI as the claim that computers can simulate minds, and that sufficiently well-designed and complex computers will display consciousness. He reduces this to the claim that consciousness arises out of algorithmic structures and processes that are sufficiently complex, but feasibly within the possibilities for real computers. His view, contrary to this, is that consciousness is not algorithmic: Computers, at least as they exist now, cannot become conscious, as we humans are. His thesis is two-pronged: One is that a successful theory of mind will depend on the extension of physical theory as we now know it. He illustrates this by showing that a successful theory of quantum gravity might explain consciousness. The other part of his approach depends on Godel’s theorem. As this is a metamathematical result, and its truth recognized outside the bounds of logical and mathematical algorithms, he asserts that this means there are truths we have access to as conscious beings that a computer could not. An extremely important support for this comes from his beliefs as a Platonist. We manifestly have access to an ideal realm where truth can be grasped outside of the structure and processes involved with algorithms. We have direct access to certain truths. It is important to point out that Platonism is almost a requirement for an appreciation of the validity of Godel’s results. Godel himself was a Platonist. A further point is that Platonism gives a great deal of guidance with respect to physics. Prof. Penrose is a mathematician with profound geometric insights, and combining this with Platonism yields powerful arguments that he can adduce about physics. Thus, in a sense, his book is contrasting an Aristotelian perspective, namely that of strong AI, with his brilliant insights derived in part from his Platonic philosophy. A question that arises is how seriously he presents strong AI as an alternative to his point of view: Is it just a straw man? This involves a subjective judgement on the part of the reader. I felt that overall, despite his biases as a result of his beliefs, that he displays a remarkable sharpness of intellect, as well as open mindedness. He is clearly biased toward his point of view, but he also does not treat strong AI as merely a straw man. Considering that he believes an advance in basic physics is necessary to understand consciousness, he must connect our biological knowledge of the brain with quantum gravity. This is a rather difficult connection, to say the least, and it requires an extensive discussion of modern physics to establish a suitable framework for understanding his perspective. He takes us on a splendid tour, extremely exhilarating, of certain important areas of modern physics. His geometric perspective is extremely interesting, and we get a powerful vision of a number of areas of physics that I found to be enlightening, despite the fact that my background in physics is fairly substantial. He keeps his discussion, for the most part, at a level of about a junior physics major in college. Sometimes more extensive knowledge is quite a bit of help. And, because his writing is very clear, an indicator of how important he evidently felt these matters were, even people not trained in physics will be able to derive much from the discussion, although they will not comprehend certain subtleties. This treatment of modern physics is a classic presentation, and certainly makes the book worth reading, even if one finds Prof. Penrose’s ideas about a theory of mind somewhat too speculative. Because so much depends on Godel’s famous work, he also discusses this in depth. In conjunction with this, he provides a good discussion of Turing machines. Overall, I think that this book must be highly recommended. It gives some excellent insights into Prof. Penrose’s perspectives and geometric thinking. Since he is (or was) quite a brilliant mathematician, this insight is a very welcome view into the thinking of one of the premier physicists of the latter part of the twentieth century. Also, the view he presents of modern physics is a treat, and done with remarkable clarity.

Given the attention devoted to AI in the last several months, I thought it would be interesting to go back and read Nobel Laureate Roger Penrose’s 1989 classic on the subject. Penrose’s ability to describe mathematics, physics and neuroscience in lively prose is almost on the level of a Stephen Hawking or a Richard Dawkins. But potential readers should know that 3/4 of this book is actually a review of those very subjects. With an undergraduate degree in physics I can vouch that the work covered virtually all the major points in my curriculum. Of course, a physics major is primarily about solving equations while Penrose mostly limits himself to qualitative description. But it’s all here—from Newton, to Planck, to Feynman. The actual thesis of the book—that there are quantum level processes in the brain and so human cognition cannot be explained by classical physics—actually receives fairly limited attention. Essentially, Penrose argues that the dichotomy between the diffuse wave function and its collapse at the moment of observation is unlikely to be the final story. Instead, boosted by his own research in quantum gravity, he argues that a revolutionary theory that upends quantum physics is likely. Once that is accomplished it may reveal the way to understand the dawning of consciousness amongst life on Earth. Those interested in a animated tour of the history and successes of physics should read this book. However, if you’re looking for insight into alternative theories of AI, there are four hundred fifty pages of a review of science before you get there. It is a great book for the intellectually minded without a background in STEM. In fact, even with my background, I found it so compelling that I plan to continue to make my through Penrose’s corpus.

Way above my head … was hoping for something more basic.

Although not everyone agrees with Penrose's doubts, he is undoubtedly very knowledgeable. He "proves" from the work of Godel and Turing, as well as the theory of quantum mechanics, that strong artificial intelligence cannot be achieved on a Turing machine. It is definitely worth reading carefully and using it as a target for reflection and criticism.

This is updated edition of bestseller from Nobel prize winner Roger Penrose, book is brilliant rope to questions between math, physics and computabily, can machines think and where to find counciousness. Merchant delivered the book quickly and in a excellent condition.

I guess I was expecting a different content. Others gave it high marks, but it may just be me.

We are in 1989, Penrose starts with the hypothesis that consciousness is non-algorithmic therefore cannot emerge in computers. He is challenging AI researchers with a great deal of speculation before multi-core processors, the web and smartphones. But he did his massive homework and there is a sense of intellectual honesty throughout this book. He starts with Turing machines, passing through Gödel’s theorem, fractals, classical physics, quantum physics, the human brain and to end with the physics of the mind. Wow! The whole thing is edifying because he always point-out that physics is in an unsatisfactory state (inconsistent) but keeps going with his speculative guesses. Perhaps his hypothesis is probably wrong for the same reason physics is currently inconsistent (classical + quantum), our machines are not so smart and we don't know how to simulate brains. That is, we are not so intelligent as we think!

Why should Stephen Hawking hog the entire spotlight? Dr. Penrose is another genius of physics and mathematics worth reading. This book mainly deals with computer Artificial Intelligence and human consciousness. But the book covers other aspects of physics, like relativity and quantum mechanics, in order to make its arguments. Most readers will find fascinating.