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Why on earth not? Because he's got a knighthood, and might smack me with a mace? It's not as if there aren't many, many great physicists who have failed to und
by mechanical_fish 19y ago
Why on earth not? Because he's got a knighthood, and might smack me with a mace?
It's not as if there aren't many, many great physicists who have failed to understand quantum mechanics. Max Planck invented the field but never understood it. And Einstein, if he did indeed understand it, never stopped wishing that he didn't have to.
Anyway, I haven't read Penrose's arguments -- geez, I barely take time to read credible science these days -- so I'm not dismissing him: I'm outsourcing my dismissal of him to guys like Dennett. Meanwhile, I'll happily accept your assertion that Penrose understands quantum mechanics perfectly well even if he enjoys abusing it for philosophical kicks, kind of like how the screenwriters who wrote Gladiator claim to have actually read real Roman history before they reinvented it for the screen.
- alexfarran 19y agoGo find out who you're talking about.
- jacobolus 19y agoPenrose’s books are well worth reading even if you disagree with the speculative bits. He is an eloquent writer, and most of it is lucid layman-accessible explanations of “credible science.”
- hugh 19y agoI'd just like to say that "I'm not dismissing him: I'm outsourcing my dismissal of him to guys like Dennett" is the best line I've read recently. From now on I'm outsourcing all my dismissiveness to Daniel Dennett. I just don't have the time to be properly dismissive, and he's so much better at it than I am anyway.