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There's something deeper at the core of his observation IMO -- that our consciousness has some connection / dependence to the universes overall notion of symmet
by stanfordkid 6y ago
There's something deeper at the core of his observation IMO -- that our consciousness has some connection / dependence to the universes overall notion of symmetry through it's biological make up. His theory of consciousness looks at these quantum microtubules that are found in proteins ... so what he's saying is that maybe there is some sort of computational power within "wet brains", in how those brains relate to the broader environment that is difficult to precisely characterize. Silicon AI is fundamentally incapable of tapping in to these forces due to the lack of such a connection.
The point is that the computational power of the brain may be non-local and non-constrained to the physical dimensions or neural capacity of the brain.
- koeng 6y agoIs there any evidence of his theory of consciousness?
- varjag 6y agoNo, it's pure speculation. The only reason you still hear about it is his physics credentials.
- protonfish 6y agoIt's so unfortunate because he is such a brilliant mathematician and physicist. To hear him spew this pseudo-scientific nonsense makes me embarrassed for him.
- nescioquid 6y agoHe got the idea from someone else. I had the impression he doesn't attach too strongly to the idea, but he offers it as an example of how you could have a something non-deterministic happening in human cognition. That may well be understating his commitment to the idea. It seems weak to me, but I really don't understand the details of the idea.
- Der_Einzige 6y agoToo many very smart scientists have gone the same direction. Was sad to see Carl Jung go down this route.
- discreteevent 6y agoWho knows if it is sad until one is as smart as they are?
- morlockabove 6y agoBrilliant scientists tend to be insane weirdos. Newton was into alchemy. The kind of personality that's willing to break one orthodoxy won't stop at the next; all great new ideas are plucked from the midst of mad ramblings.
- catawbasam 6y agoA little, but not much: https://phys.org/news/2014-01-discovery-quantum-vibrations-microtubules-corroborates.html https://phys.org/news/2014-01-discovery-quantum-vibrations-m... https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/01/140116085105.htm https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/01/140116085105.h...
- FartyMcFarter 6y ago> His theory of consciousness looks at these quantum microtubules that are found in proteins So is he saying that human-like AI requires quantum computing? Or is he saying that even a quantum computer wouldn't be able to simulate the human brain?
- zachf 6y agoPenrose’s model of the brain needs to be more powerful than quantum computation, so that it can actually solve NP problems in P time and similarly amazing feats. If you’re interested in CS and quantum physics and whether there could be any relationship to the way the brain works, do check out Scott Aaronson’s book “Quantum Computing Since Democratus”. It’s a great read, it’ll get you up to speed on quantum mechanics and complexity theory, the book is conversational, and it’s written by an expert in the field of QC. It also discusses Penrose’s arguments about consciousness and other fun digressions into philosophy. Great and fun book!
- meowface 6y agoAaronson also addresses Penrose's consciousness/intelligence/computation ideas in this podcast: https://youtu.be/nAMjv0NAESM?t=2176 https://youtu.be/nAMjv0NAESM?t=2176 (timestamped to that part)