Penrose, Shadows of the Mind

[snyders]

Related to the previous note.

Ironically I've just started reading Penrose's book from the chapter that talks about quantum effects in brain. Sounds like tremendous crap so far.

What looks strange:
1. Nobody tried to mix these two crazy ingredients together -- so I'll be the first.
2. Another attempt of cave-man reasoing using cave-man tools. Call your stone axe - quantum resonance -- does it sound better?
3. No machine will ever be able to understand how dumb it is. Including ourselves.
4. Occam razor. Why pull by the ears fashionable theories when we do not understand what "simple" nets of 10^11 strangely-connected computers can do?

Comments

[avva.livejournal.com]

In my experience, the chapters on Godel's theorems are the most interesting (if still unsatisfying in the end). The chapters on quantum brains are just way too speculative.

Thanks for the recommendation

[snyders.livejournal.com]

I will give it a try.

[(Anonymous)]

I do prefer sharp and short Manin's writings
on the subject. Penrose is good for twistors.
For the nets -- we just really do not know what to do with them, why it is "simple"?

[snyders.livejournal.com]

Nikolai Mnev says...
I do prefer sharp and short Manin's writings

I would be greateful for a full reference, I don't know his book. Is it on the internet by chance?

.. why it is "simple"?
I've put "simple" in quotes.

[(Anonymous)]

My bookshelfs are in a chaotic state, sorry.

Manin has a book on Goedel theorem,
a Course of Mathematical Logic,
(where, in fact, quantum computer was first propsed)

For the papers available on the net I like
his Bourbaki talk --
"Classical computing, quantum computing, and Shor's factoring algorithm"
http://xxx.lanl.gov/abs/quant-ph/9903008

Here is a couple of good references
from MathSciNet:

Mathematics and physics. Translated from the Russian by Ann Koblitz and Neal Koblitz. Progress in Physics,
3. Birkh?user, Boston, Mass., 1981. xii+99 pp. ISBN: 3-7643-3027-9

Manin, Yu. I. Truth, rigour, and common sense. Truth in mathematics (Mussomeli, 1995), 147--159, Oxford Univ. Press, New
York, 1998.

My lovely for philosophy
is a book of dialogs
Kobzarev I.Yu., Manin Yu.I
Elementary Particles: Mathematics, Physics and Phylosophy, Kulver 1989.
Russian original was published only in 1997
by ÔÀÇÈÑ and it is still available here
(in SPb) in shops.

[snyders.livejournal.com]

Thanks a lot!