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The Emperor's New Mind Roger Penrose

The Emperor's New Mind By Roger Penrose

The Emperor's New Mind by Roger Penrose


$10.00
Condition - Very Good
<20 in stock

Summary

The proponents of artificial intelligence want to prove that it is only a matter of time before computers will be doing everything that a human mind can do. The author reacts against this view, by saying there is some facet of human thinking that can never be emulated by a machine.

The Emperor's New Mind Summary

The Emperor's New Mind: Concerning Computers, Minds and the Laws of Physics by Roger Penrose

Arguing against artifcial intelligence, and exploring the mystery of the mind and consciousness, Roger Penrose takes the reader on the most engaging and creative tour of modern physics, cosmology, mathematics and philosophy that has ever been written.

About Roger Penrose

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 for physics which he shared with Stephen Hawking for their joint contribution to our understanding of the universe.

Table of Contents

Part 1 Can a computer have a mind?: the Turing test; artificial intelligence; an AI approach to pleasure and pain; strong AI and Searle's Chinese room; hardware and software. Part 2 Algorithms and Turing machines: background to the algorithm concept; Turing's concept; binary coding of numerical data; the Church-Turing thesis; numbers other than natural numbers; the insolubility of Hilbert's problem; Church's lambda calculus. Part 3 Mathematics and reality: the land of Tor'Bled-Nam; real numbers; construction of the Mandelbrot set; Platonic reality of mathematical concepts. Part 4 Truth, proof and insight: Hilbert's programme for mathematics; Godel's theorem; Platonism of intuitionism?; Is the Mandelbrot set like non-recursive mathematics?. Part 5 The classical world: the status of the physical theory; Euclidean geometry; the dynamics of Galileo and Newton; the mechanistic world of Newtonian dynamics; Hamilton mechanics; Maxwell's electromagnetic theory; computablility and the wave equation; the Lorentz equation of motion - runaway particles; the special relativity of Einstein and Poincare; Einstein's general relativity; relativistic causality and determinism; computability in classical physics - where do we stand?; mass, matter and reality. Part 6 Quantum magic and quantum mystery: do philosophers need quantum theory?; problems with classical theory; probability amplitudes; Hilbert space; measurements; Spin and the Riemann sphere of states; objectivity and measurability of quantum states; photon spin; the paradox of Einstein, Podolsky and Rosen; Schrodinger's equation - Dirac's equation; quantum field theory; Schrodinger's cat; various attitudes in existing quantum theory. Part 7 Cosmology and the arrow of time: the flow of time; the inexorable increase of entropy; the origin of low entropy in the universe; does the big bang explain the second law?; black holes; the structure of space - time singularities. Part 8 In search of quantum gravity: what lies behind the Weyl curvature hypothesis?; time-asymmetry in state-vector reduction; when does the state-vector reduce?. Part 9 Real brains and model brains: what are brains actually like?; where is the seat of consciousness?; split-brain experiments; information processing in the visual cortex; how do nerve signals work?; conputer models; parallel computers and the "oneness" of consciousness; is there a role for quantum mechanics in brain activity?. Part 10 Where lies the physics of the mind?: what are minds for?; what does consciousness actually do?; animal consciousness?; contact with Plato's world; a view of physical reality; tilings and quasicrystals; possible relevance to brain placticity; the time-delays of consciousness.

Additional information

GOR002548120
9780099771708
0099771705
The Emperor's New Mind: Concerning Computers, Minds and the Laws of Physics by Roger Penrose
Used - Very Good
Paperback
Vintage Publishing
1990-09-06
480
Winner of Science Book Award 1990
Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
This is a used book - there is no escaping the fact it has been read by someone else and it will show signs of wear and previous use. Overall we expect it to be in very good condition, but if you are not entirely satisfied please get in touch with us

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