Large, the Small and the Human Mind

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Will quantum physics let us reduce consciousness to computation? Roger Penrose says "no" with great force and eloquence in The Large, the Small, and the Human Mind. Prepared as a series of three lectures in Cambridge's Tanner Series on Human Values, the material is both meticulously thought out and informally presented, including many illustrations by Penrose and others. For publication, the author sought out rebuttals and commentary by philosophers Abner Shimony and Nancy Cartwright, as well as his own colleague and occasional rival, the well-known theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking. Penrose then reserves the last word for himself, an author's prerogative. The result is a sharp but polite argument on the nature of thinking and its reducibility. Readers familiar with The Emperor's New Mind and Shadow of the Mind will find the arguments from quantum physics fleshed out in greater detail, but also attacked with good-natured aplomb. Those who missed out on Penrose's older forays into this territory (or are somehow uninterested in the nature of thought) will find this an excellent broad overview of the modern conception of physics, from subatomic shenanigans to the radius of the universe, as well as a stimulating debate among several great modern thinkers. Despite Penrose's certainty that our brains can't be modeled by computational systems--and hence that strong artificial intelligence will remain in science fiction--the argument continues, and will continue for some time. The Large, the Small, and the Human Mind crystallizes that debate for readers who want to keep up with the latest thinking about thinking. --Rob Lightner


From Kirkus Reviews
Lectures by a renowned mathematician and physicist on the connections of relativity and quantum theory (the science of the very large and the very small), with an eye to understanding the nature of the mind. Penrose has been over this ground before (in The Emperor's New Mind, not reviewed, and Shadows of the Mind, 1994), and his contention that artificial intelligence is an impossibility has generated a good deal of controversy. Here he reiterates and extends his essential arguments and invites refutation from a trio of critics in related disciplines: Abner Shimony, Nancy Cartwright, and Stephen Hawking. One central point of debate has to do with the relation between mathematics and the ``real universe''--or, as Penrose puts it, between the physical and the platonic worlds. A popular view of how science works is that the scientist, looking to explain a series of observations, finds a mathematical relationship that accounts for the data. Penrose argues that this view has things backwards: The mathematical relationship is the reality, and the data merely an expression of it. Einstein conceived his equations before data were available to verify them; when data became available, his calculations checked out exactly. Penrose goes on to consider the paradoxes of quantum mechanics, but readers without sophisticated mathematics are likely to find this section tough going. Finally, Penrose attempts to apply these issues to the question of whether the activities of mind can ever be duplicated by a computational device, a possibility he denies. His three critics then point to what they feel are weaknesses in his arguments, and finally Penrose counters their rebuttals. Penrose pushes the available analytical tools to the limit, and the result is far from light reading, but those willing to think hard about fundamental questions of mind and matter will find this discussion provocative and rewarding. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.


Book Description
Roger Penrose's views on the large-scale physics of the Universe, the small-scale world of quantum physics and the physics of the mind are controversial and widely discussed. This book is a fascinating and accessible summary of Roger Penrose's current thinking on those areas of physics in which he feels there are major unresolved problems. It is also a stimulating introduction to the radically new concepts that he believes will be fruitful in understanding the workings of the brain and the nature of the human mind.


Book Info
(Canto) Discusses the thinking on areas of physics where there are major unresolved problems. Provides an introduction to the radically new concepts will be fruitful in understanding the workings of the brain and the nature of the human mind. Softcover.


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When Oxford physicist and mathematician Penrose (The Emperor's New Mind; Shadows of the Mind), has something to say about general relativity, quantum physics and artificial intelligence, we would do well to listen. So, too, with his Cambridge counterpart, Hawking; Boston University professor emeritus of philosophy and physics Shimony; and the director of the London School of Economics center for the philosophy of the natural and social sciences, Cartwright, whose responses to Penrose's thesis appear in this collection of talks given as Cambridge's 1995 Tanner Lectures on Human Values. Despite the many heady and humorous diagrams and illustrations and crystal-clear prose, the enormous complexity of the thesis presents formidable obstacles to the lay reader. Penrose does not shy away from introducing mathematical formulae, though he lets his audience know that understanding them is not necessary to comprehending his thesis. Perhaps inevitably, though, the lecture format means that Penrose uses complex equations and inadequately explained technical terminology to move his thesis along at a speed proper for an audience of listeners instead of readers. The thesis itself eludes simplification because it comprises several points. Among them is that mathematics is not merely a description of reality but a separate (Penrose suggests Platonic) reality unto itself. Another is that mathematics demonstrates its excellence (aesthetic and scientific) as a Platonic reality by its accuracy as a description of reality. And there are more points of interest, on lacunae in quantum theory and on the inability of computers to generate mathematical proofs. All continue Penrose's arguments elsewhere, making these lectures, in one sense, duplicative. On the other hand, there is hardly anything wrong with repetition when dealing with a topic so interesting. (Apr.)


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