Has any1 read the emperor's new mind by Roger Penrose?

I bought this second hand and have heard good reviews of Roger Penroses' work. It was first published in the late 80's.
Seems abit slow at the moment and as the first section is all about AI, turing machines etc. is it still relevent and up to date enough to be worth a read?

Reply 1

MeAndBubbles

Sorry, I've only read the first 150 pages of Road to Reality (150 out of 1000).

Reply 2

lincs_b

Why??? Did you give up or is it a current read?

Reply 3

teachercol

Read it a few years ago when it came out. Its interesting but most people in the field regard Penrose's theories about consciousness as pretty flakey.

Reply 4

MeAndBubbles

becky2986

Why??? Did you give up or is it a current read?

I gave up. :frown:

I still want to read it though one day. The first half is maths, the second physics. I did get an overview of how maths is used in science, how maths is part of the natural world. Previously I'd done mathematical economics.

He draws squiggley diagrams in the book, and it was at the point of descibing Riemann mathematics I stopped reading. Chicken!

Reply 5

MeAndBubbles

Later I read, am reading, an old book on Superstrings by F. David Peat. It has a big big section on Penroses's twistor theory.

Sorry I can't review the physics half of Penrose's Road to Reality.

Reply 6

ChemistBoy

I've been trying to get my head around Boltzmann Brains thanks to the recent edition of New Scientist, perhaps I should give this a read too.

Reply 7

figureeight

ChemistBoy

I've been trying to get my head around Boltzmann Brains thanks to the recent edition of New Scientist, perhaps I should give this a read too.

That's such an interesting article, but I don't really succumb to the idea that if we're not typical then we can't conclude anything... seems a bit... I can't find the word. What do you think?