The Emperor's New Mind

The Emperor's New Mind by Roger Penrose is a philosophical book which makes clear in its subtitle the main questions it discusses. That subtitle is Concerning Computers, Minds and The Laws of Physics.

The central line of argument is that quantum mechanics plays an essential role in the understanding of human consciousness, and that since quantum mechanics plays no role in the operation of a digital computer, it must follow that digital computers aren't doing anything closely imitative of human consciousness.

Penrose won the Aventis prize in 1990 for this book.

Links

• The Book
  • ISBN 0140145346
• Alan Turing. Computing Machinery and Intelligence
  • where the Turing test was formulated
• Raymond Smullyan
  • Is God a Taoist?
  • An Epistemological Nightmare