The Large, the Small and the Human Mind

Accessible and stimulating introduction to Roger Penrose's vision of theoretical physics for the twenty-first century.

Roger Penrose (Author), Malcolm Longair (Edited by), Abner Shimony (With), Nancy Cartwright (With), Stephen Hawking (With)

9780521785723, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 28 April 2000

224 pages, 72 b/w illus. 3 tables
21.7 x 13.6 x 1.5 cm, 0.28 kg

'… a stimulating and compact review of Penrose's own thinking.' Bernard Dixon, The Independent

Roger Penrose's original and provocative ideas about the large-scale physics of the Universe, the small-scale world of quantum physics and the physics of the mind have been the subject of controversy and discussion. These ideas were proposed in his best-selling books The Emperor's New Mind and Shadows of the Mind. In this book, he summarises and updates his current thinking in these complex areas to present a masterful summary of those areas of physics in which he feels there are major unresolved problems. Through this, he introduces radically new concepts which he believes will be fruitful in understanding the workings of the brain and the nature of the human mind. These ideas are 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. Roger Penrose concludes with a response to their thought-provoking criticisms.

Foreword Malcolm Longair
1. Space-time and cosmology Roger Penrose
2. The mysteries of quantum physics Roger Penrose
3. Physics and the mind Roger Penrose
4. On mentality, quantum mechanics and the actualization of potentialities Abner Shimony
5. Why physics? Nancy Cartwright
6. The objections of an unashamed reductionist Stephen Hawking
7. Response Roger Penrose
Appendix I: Goodstein's theorm and mathematical thinking
Appendix II: Experiments to test gravitationally induced state reduction.

Subject Areas: Physics [PH]