The Emperor's New Mind: Concerning Computers, Minds, and the Laws of Physics
Abstract
From the Publisher: In The Emporer's New Mind, eminent physicist Roger Penrose argues that there are facets of human thinking, of human imagination, that can never be emulated by a machine. Exploring a dazzling array of topics--complex numbers, black holes, entropy, quasicrystals, the structure of the brain, and the physical processes of consciousness--Penrose demonstrates that laws even more wondrously complex than those of quantum mechanics are essential for the operation of a mind.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Cited by
Sorted by citations
A fast quantum mechanical algorithm for database search
Grover, L. K. (1996) · Proceedings of the twenty-eighth annual ACM symposium on Theory of computing - STOC '96 · doi:10.1145/237814.237866 · Cited by 8,830 · see citing works
Experimental and theoretical approaches to conscious processing
Dehaene, S., & Changeux, J.-P. (2011) · Neuron · doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2011.03.018 · Cited by 2,573 · see citing works
Towards a cognitive neuroscience of consciousness: basic evidence and a workspace framework
Dehaene, S. (2001) · Cognition · doi:10.1016/s0010-0277(00)00123-2 · Cited by 2,498 · see citing works
On gravity's role in quantum state reduction
Penrose, R. (1996) · General Relativity and Gravitation · doi:10.1007/bf02105068 · Cited by 1,872 · see citing works
Self-citationA Survey on quantum computing technology
Gyongyosi, L., & Imre, S. (2019) · Computer Science Review · doi:10.1016/j.cosrev.2018.11.002 · Cited by 646 · see citing works
Köbis, N., & Mossink, L. D. (2021) · Computers in Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.chb.2020.106553 · Cited by 406 · see citing works
McCarthy, J. (2007) · Artificial Intelligence · doi:10.1016/j.artint.2007.10.009 · Cited by 396 · see citing works
Are we explaining consciousness yet?
Dennett, D. (2001) · Cognition · doi:10.1016/s0010-0277(00)00130-x · Cited by 329 · see citing works
A Computational Foundation for the Study of Cognition
Chalmers, D. J. (2011) · Journal of Cognitive Science · doi:10.17791/jcs.2011.12.4.325 · Cited by 294 · see citing works
Hard criteria for empirical theories of consciousness
Doerig, A., Schurger, A., & Herzog, M. H. (2021) · Cognitive Neuroscience · doi:10.1080/17588928.2020.1772214 · Cited by 194 · see citing works
Quantum mechanics, interference, and the brain
Acacio de Barros, J., & Suppes, P. (2009) · Journal of Mathematical Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.jmp.2009.03.005 · Cited by 119 · see citing works
The Teleological Argument: An Exploration of the Fine-Tuning of the Universe
Collins, R. (2009) · The Blackwell Companion to Natural Theology · doi:10.1002/9781444308334.ch4 · Cited by 116 · see citing works
Quantum effects in the brain: A review
Adams, B., & Petruccione, F. (2020) · AVS Quantum Science · doi:10.1116/1.5135170 · Cited by 80 · see citing works
Governing Without A Fundamental Direction of Time: Minimal Primitivism about Laws of Nature
Chen, E. K., & Goldstein, S. (2022) · Jerusalem Studies in Philosophy and History of Science · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-96775-8_2 · Cited by 69 · see citing works
Systems biology and integrative physiological modelling
Hester, R. L., Iliescu, R., Summers, R., & Coleman, T. G. (2011) · The Journal of Physiology · doi:10.1113/jphysiol.2010.201558 · Cited by 58 · see citing works
A new spin on neural processing: quantum cognition.
Weingarten, C. P., Doraiswamy, P. M., & Fisher, M. P. A. (2016) · Frontiers in Human Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnhum.2016.00541 · Cited by 47 · see citing works
Fine‐Tuning, Multiple Universes and Theism
Holder, R. D. (2002) · Noûs · doi:10.1111/1468-0068.00372 · Cited by 31 · see citing works
The Big Bang and its Dark-Matter Content: Whence, Whither, and Wherefore
Penrose, R. (2018) · Foundations of Physics · doi:10.1007/s10701-018-0162-3 · Cited by 26 · see citing works
Self-citationUnder an iron sky: On the entropy at the start of the Universe
Barnes, L. A., & Lewis, G. F. (2021) · Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia · doi:10.1017/pasa.2021.54 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
“The standard solution to this puzzle was presented in Penrose (1979, 1989), and popularised in his book The Emperor’s New Mind (Penrose 1990).”
Method
- Authors
- Penrose, R., & Landauer, R.
- Affiliations
- University of Oxford (GB)
- IBM Research - Thomas J. Watson Research Center (US)
- Venue
- Physics Today
- Publisher
- AIP Publishing
- Published
- 1990-06-01
- Volume
- 43
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 73-75
- ISSN
- 0031-9228 (ISSN-L)
- 1945-0699
- OpenAlex
- W2020829707
- Cited by
- 1,110
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2025: 2 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 43 · 2020: 46 · 2019: 34 · 2018: 38 · 2017: 42 · 2016: 69 · 2015: 42 · 2014: 43 · 2013: 51 · 2012: 38
- Type
- book review
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Physics Today (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Philosophy and Theoretical Science
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Cognitive Science and Education Research
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › History and Philosophy of Science › Cybernetics and Technology in Society
- Keywords
- mind and machine, AI limitations, consciousness, imagination, quantum mechanics, physical laws, brain structure, quasicrystals, black holes, entropy, complex numbers, Roger Penrose
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
