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A New York Times bestseller when it appeared in 1989, Roger Penrose's The Emperor's New Mind was universally hailed as a marvelous survey of modern physics as well as a brilliant reflection on the human mind, offering a new perspective on the scientific landscape and a visionary glimpse of the possible future of science. Now, in Shadows of the Mind, Penrose offers another exhilarating look at modern science as he mounts an even more powerful attack on artificial intelligence.
But perhaps more important, in this volume he points the way to a new science, one that may eventually explain the physical basis of the human mind.
Penrose contends that some aspects of the human mind lie beyond computation. This is not a religious argument (that the mind is something other than physical) nor is it based on the brain's vast complexity (the weather is immensely complex, says Penrose, but it is still a computable thing, at least in theory).
Instead, he provides powerful arguments to support his conclusion that there is something in the conscious activity of the brain that transcends computation - and will find no explanation in terms of present-day science. To illuminate what he believes this "something" might be, and to suggest where a new physics must proceed so that we may understand it, Penrose cuts a wide swathe through modern science, providing penetrating looks at everything from Turing computability and Godel's incompleteness, via Schrodinger's Cat and the Elitzur-Vaidman bomb-testing problem, to detailed microbiology.
Of particular interest is Penrose's extensive examination of quantum mechanics, which introduces some new ideas that differ markedly from those advanced in The Emperor's New Mind, especially concerning the mysterious interface where classical and quantum physics meet. But perhaps the most interesting wrinkle in Shadows of the Mind is Penrose's excursion into microbiology, where he examines cytoskeletons and microtubules, minute substructures lying deep within the brain's neurons. (He argues that microtubules - not neurons - may indeed be the basic units of the brain, which, if nothing else, would dramatically increase the brain's computational power.) Furthermore, he contends that in consciousness some kind of global quantum state must take place across large areas of the brain, and that it is within microtubules that these collective quantum effects are most likely to reside.
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Gödel's theorem, Quantum theory, Physics, Philosophy, Thought and thinking, Artificial intelligence, Gödelscher Unvollständigkeitssatz, COMPUTABILIDADE E COMPLEXIDADE, Künstliche Intelligenz, Messprozess, Bewusstsein, INTELIGÊNCIA ARTIFICIAL, Quantengravitation, Quantenmechanik, Conscience, Bewustzijn, Thinking, Gödel, Théorème de, Sciences cognitives, Physique, Theorema van Gödel, Pensée, Intelligence informatique, Théorie quantique, Denken, Aspect psychologique, Kunstmatige intelligentie, Philosophie, Intelligence artificielle, Science, popular works, Goedel's theorem, Physics, philosophy, Intellect, New York Times reviewed, Computational intelligence, Cognitive science, Théorème de Gödel, Godel's theoremShowing 8 featured editions. View all 8 editions?
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1
Les ombres de l'esprit: À la recherche d'une science de la conscience
December 1, 1997, Dunod
Paperback
in French
2729605584 9782729605582
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2
Shadows of the Mind: A Search for the Missing Science of Consciousness
June 27, 1996, Oxford University Press, USA
in English
0195106466 9780195106466
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3
Schatten des Geistes: Wege zu einer neuen Physik des Bewußtseins
Sep 18, 1995, Spektrum Akademischer Verlag
in German
3860252607 9783860252604
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4
Les ombres de l'esprit: À la recherche d'une science de la conscience
1995, InterEditions
in French
2729605584 9782729605582
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6
Shadows of the Mind
1995, Random House of Canada, Limited
Paperback
in English
0099582112 9780099582113
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7
Shadows of the mind: a search for the missing science of consciousness
1995, Vintage
in English
0099582112 9780099582113
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8
Shadows of the mind: a search for the missing science of consciousness
1994, Oxford University Press
in English
0198539789 9780198539780
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BU Cathedrale Biologie 3ème étage 573.86 PEN -
BU Saint-Quentin Salle de lecture 501 PEN
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March 18, 2021 | Edited by Stew | Merge works. |
March 18, 2021 | Edited by Stew | Set translation info. |
August 22, 2020 | Edited by ISBNbot2 | normalize ISBN |
February 19, 2012 | Edited by Oliver | merge authors |
May 18, 2009 | Created by 194.57.113.18 | Edited without comment. |