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Roger Penrose

The Emperor's New Mind: Concerning Computers, Minds, and the Laws of Physics Hardcover – 9 Nov. 1989

English edition by Roger Penrose (Autor)

4.5 553 ratings

Part of: Oxford Landmark Science (19 books)

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The Emperor's New Mind: Concerning Computers, Minds, and the Laws of Physics (Oxford Landmark Science)
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For decades, proponents of artificial intelligence have argued that computers will soon be doing everything that a human mind can do. Admittedly, computers now play chess at the grandmaster level, but do they understand the game as we do? Can a computer eventually do everything a human mind can do?
In this absorbing and frequently contentious book, Roger Penrose--eminent physicist and winner, with Stephen Hawking, of the prestigious Wolf prize--puts forward his view that there are some facets of human thinking that can never be emulated by a machine. Although the book ranges widely over relativity theory, quantum mechanics and cosmology, its central concern is what philosophers call the "mind-body problem." Penrose examines what physics and mathematics can tell us about how the mind works, what they can't, and what we need to know to understand the physical processes of consciousness. In particular, he argues that there is an important gap in our knowledge at the place where classical and quantum physics meet. He is among a growing number of physicists who think Einstein wasn't being stubborn when he said his "little finger" told him that quantum mechanics is incomplete, and he concludes that laws even deeper than quantum mechanics are essential for the operation of a mind. To support this contention, Penrose takes the reader on a dazzling tour that covers such topics as complex numbers, Turing machines, complexity theory, quantum mechanics, formal systems, Godel undecidability, phase spaces, Hilbert spaces, black holes, white holes, Hawking radiation, entropy, quasicrystals, the structure of the brain, and scores of other subjects. Penrose's illuminating (and sometimes amusing) drawings highlight his discussions throughout.
As Martin Gardner states in his foreword to the book, "Penrose's achievement in mathematics and physics spring from a lifelong sense of wonder toward the mystery and beauty of being. His little finger tells him that the human mind is more than just a collection of tiny wires and switches." The Emperor's New Mind will appeal to anyone with a serious interest in modern physics and its relation to philosophical issues, as well as to physicists, mathematicians, philosophers and those on either side of the AI debate.

Part of series

Oxford Landmark Science
Print length

479 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Oxford University Press
Publication date

9 Nov. 1989
Dimensions

16.51 x 3.81 x 24.77 cm
ISBN-10

0198519737
ISBN-13

978-0198519737
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Product description

About the Author

About the Author
Roger Penrose is the Rouse Ball Professor of Mathematics at the University of Oxford. He has received a number of prizes and awards, including the 1988 Wolf Prize which he shared with with Stephen Hawking for their joint contribution to our understanding of the universe.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Oxford University Press (9 Nov. 1989)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 479 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0198519737
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0198519737
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 16.51 x 3.81 x 24.77 cm

Best Sellers Rank: 717,822 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- 846 in Philosophy & Critique of Technology (Books)
- 1,230 in Cognition & Cognitive Psychology
- 1,248 in Artificial Intelligence (A.I.)

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4.5 553 ratings

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uka meissner-deruiz

food for brain

Reviewed in Germany on 16 January 2022

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it is a bit over my head - but very intriguing - feeds the brain

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Carl Sable

Penrose's Fascinating Summary of Modern Science

Reviewed in Germany on 16 February 1999

Roger Penrose, one of the world's top physicists, summarizes modern science, examining topics including Turing machines, relativity, quantum physics, black holes, etc. At the end, he argues that the human mind can not be simulated by computers or anything algorithmic. The Emperor's New Mind is my favorite book, although I didn't feel that way the first time I read it. It is quite technical, compared to, for instance, A Brief History of Time, which covers some of the same topics. The second time I read the book, I really dedicated a lot of time to understand the material as well as I could, often working out problems with paper and pencil. This was necessary for me to see that his conclusion was related to the rest of the book. While Penrose obviously can not "prove" his belief, he gives a strong, fascinating arguement, and the book has definitely affected my philosophical views concerning consciousness.

5 people found this helpful

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Mark Fitzsimmons

Very thought provoking but logically flawed

Reviewed in Germany on 2 October 1997

I found the book to actually be more interesting in its discussion of physics and quantum mechanics than when I got to his thesis on mind and the computational impossibility of reproducing it in a computer. Although most of this is lucidly written and meticulous in its attention to detail, Penrose's final conclusion that the mind must have a quantum-mechanical aspect is unsupported by any evidence and seems to come from nowhere but his own deep desire to be more than chemicals. For me, the weakest part of the argument (in fact the only "evidence" he gives for his conclusion, really!) is the discussion of how long it takes a computer algorithm to solve a particular type of problem vs. how long it takes a person. It seems plausible, but ignores the fact that in this world, thousands of people work in parallel and cooperatively over many years to solve difficult problems and build on previous successes and failures. It ignores the roles of specialized education, folk knowledge, anecdotal evidence and how all of these result in common-sense elimination of fruitless pathways and recognition of fruitful pathways in human problem-solving.
Nevertheless, I found his physics primer (the first several chapters) to be better than many I have read, and the whole book gave me many nights of weird dreams. At the end, though, I wound up disappointed and feeling like I had been hoodwinked into someone's attempt to logically deduce his own personal faith.

20 people found this helpful

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Uwe O. Petersen

Penrose

Reviewed in Germany on 5 September 2021

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Sehr wissenschaftlich geschrieben, man muss gute Vorkenntnisse haben, um dem Text folgen zu koennen.

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Luise Schweizer

naturwissenschaft pur

Reviewed in Germany on 30 September 2021

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Penrose hat eine faszinierende Art wissenschaftliche Zusammenhänge darzustellen

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Michael George

an exciting glimpse into modern physics and an effort to bring it to bear on a theory of mind

Reviewed in the United States on 19 March 2018

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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.

53 people found this helpful

GALIMBERTI ENRICO

Libro eccezionale

Reviewed in Italy on 14 November 2022

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Ottimo libro, non proprio divulgativo; tratta, tra gli innumerevoli argomenti, anche del problema spinoso della intelligenza artificiale.
Un pensatore, Penrose, di grande levatura e Nobel 2022 per la Fisica

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Dr Iraj Jafarian

consciousness is not algorithmic

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 15 April 2023

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Proves that AI can’t aspire to consciousness using sophisticated maths by the main man .. Roger

Amazon Customer

A classic from the 1990s

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 26 July 2022

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Proves that AI can’t aspire to consciousness using sophisticated maths by a top Oxford mathematician.
The thesis of consciousness is entirely compatible with faith.

One person found this helpful

Avinash

Excellent read

Reviewed in India on 5 April 2023

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This is a great book by one of the greatest mathematicians of our times.
Print quality is very good.

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The Emperor's New Mind: Concerning Computers, Minds, and the Laws of Physics Hardcover – 9 Nov. 1989

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