The large, the small and the human mind

In the first part of this book Penrose restates the arguments previously discussed in ‘The Emperor’s New Mind’ and ‘Shadows of the Mind.’ This isn’t new ground, but it has the merit of presenting his ideas in a shorter and simpler form.

Shimony’s main objection to Penrose's ideas is that it is unnecessary to drag in the whole question of Gödel and non-computability, in order to refute mainstream ideas about the nature of consciousness. In reply, Penrose agrees that there is a strong argument against the present mainstream theories even without Gödel, but points out that his approach does not merely demolish mainstream materialism, but also tries to provide something to put in its place.

The discussion with Nancy Wright appears to revolve round whether physics or biology should provide the route towards an understanding of consciousness and the ability to provide a programme of experimentation. Penrose’s reply is that the shortcomings that he sees in existing physics are relevant to the state of biology.

The discussion between Penrose and Hawking reveals a fundamental divergence in their attitude towards the underlying state of the universe. Hawking is closer to the traditional Copenhagen view, in which the quantum level is merely a system for calculations, whereas Penrose views the quantum as an underlying reality.