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In this book, Roger Penrose presents a masterly summary of those areas of physics in which he feels there are major unsolved problems. These ideas are then challenged by three distinguished experts from different backgrounds - Abner Shimony and Nancy Cartwright as Philosophers of science and Stephen Hawking as a theoretical physicist and cosmologist. Finally, Roger Penrose responds to their thought-provoking criticisms. This paperback edition has been updated to include a striking and easily accessible example of Gödel's theorem, and a ground-breaking proposal for a physical experiment designed to test some of Penrose's most novel ideas about quantum mechanics. Penrose's enthusiasm, insight and good humour shine through this accessible, illuminating, and brilliant account of 21st-century theoretical physics.

Tabla de contenidos provista por Syndetics

• Picture credits(p. viii)
• Notes on the Contributors(p. ix)
• Foreword(p. xi)
• Preface to the Canto edition(p. xix)
• Chapter 1 Space-time and Cosmology(p. 1)
• Chapter 2 The Mysteries of Quantum Physics(p. 50)
• Chapter 3 Physics and the Mind(p. 93)
• Chapter 4 On Mentality, Quantum Mechanics and the Actualization of Potentialities(p. 144)
• Chapter 5 Why Physics?(p. 161)
• Chapter 6 The Objections of an Unashamed Reductionist(p. 169)
• Chapter 7 Response(p. 173)
• Appendix 1 Goodstein's Theorem and Mathematical Thinking(p. 186)
• Appendix 2 Experiments to Test Gravitationally Induced State Reduction(p. 193)

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Publishers Weekly Review

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.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

CHOICE Review

Penrose's books The Emperor's New Mind (CH, Apr'90) and Shadows of the Mind (1994) were very popular, in part because of his attempts to explain the nature of human thought from the combined perspective of physics of computing, with bits of cognitive science and philosophy thrown in. However, for most readers, they were difficult to understand. One needs to understand modern physics and the theory of computation to follow Penrose's main argument. Now, his new book tries to present the main ideas of the previous two books in a somewhat more accessible form. It is an improvement, but the ideas will still be difficult for most college undergraduates. The book follows an unusual format consisting of 139 pages of Penrose followed by 28 pages of critique of Shimony, Cartwright, and Hawking, followed by 12 pages of responses by Penrose. In spite of the difficulty of the subject, these authors are extremely articulate. Also, Penrose's main section on physics, geometric tilings, and the mind is nicely illustrated with diagrams. Upper-division undergraduates through professionals. S. L. Tanimoto; University of Washington

Notas de autor provistas por Syndetics

Born in England, the son of a geneticist, Roger Penrose received a Ph.D. in 1957 from Cambridge University. Penrose then became a professor of applied mathematics at Birkbeck College in 1966 and a Rouse Ball Professor of Mathematics at Oxford University in 1973.

Penrose, a mathematician and theoretical physicist, has done much to elucidate the fundamental properties of black holes. With Stephen Hawking, Penrose proved a theorem of Albert Einstein's general relativity, asserting that at the center of a black hole there must evolve a "space-time singularity" of zero volume and infinite density, in which the current laws of physics do not apply. He also proposed the hypothesis of "cosmic censorship," which claims that such singularities must possess an event horizon.

In 1969 Penrose described a process for the extraction of energy from a black hole, as well as how rotational energy of the black hole is transferred to a particle outside the hole. In addition, Penrose has done much to develop the mathematics needed to unite general relativity, which deals with the gravitational interactions of matter, and quantum mechanics, which describes all other interactions.

(Bowker Author Biography)