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5 Great Science Books to Expand Your Mind

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Re: 5 Great Science Books to Expand Your Mind

#4

Post by jsmcgd »

judegomila wrote: post #3

To add to this: The Emperor's New Mind, by Roger Penrose. Really cool book. The Road to Reality: A Complete Guide to the Laws of the Universe, by Penrose again. Shadows of the Mind: A Search for the Missing Science of Consciousness, Penrose.

I'm reading 'The Road to Reality. A Complete Guide to the Laws of the Universe'. Be warned: Penrose doesn't use the word 'complete' lightly. Well worth the effort however.

Re: 5 Great Science Books to Expand Your Mind

#5

Post by ionfish »

judegomila wrote: post #3

To add to this: The Emperor's New Mind, by Roger Penrose. Really cool book. The Road to Reality: A Complete Guide to the Laws of the Universe, by Penrose again. Shadows of the Mind: A Search for the Missing Science of Consciousness, Penrose.

I've always been rather dubious about Penrose's approach to consciousness. He seems to be of the school of "Put two metaphysically mysterious things together, in the hope that we can explain one in terms of the other."

Re: 5 Great Science Books to Expand Your Mind

#6

Post by sown »

judegomila wrote: post #3

To add to this: The Emperor's New Mind, by Roger Penrose. Really cool book. The Road to Reality: A Complete Guide to the Laws of the Universe, by Penrose again. Shadows of the Mind: A Search for the Missing Science of Consciousness, Penrose.

Road to Reality is nice but the other two books you mention are not so much. Biology is very much a show-me science and if you can't actually prove or demonstrate it then ... I dunno what to say. Don't bother anyone with it? That sounds harsh but it is the case.

Re: 5 Great Science Books to Expand Your Mind

#7

Post by yters »

babyshake wrote: post #2

Godel, Escher, Bach is one of the best books ever written in this cosmos.

It's definitely clever, but he seems generally confused about his thesis. As I recall, he defines intelligence as the ability to step outside the system. So, if intelligence is a system, then if it steps outside of itself to formalize itself into AI, then it has not formalized itself.
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