Re: Penrose

Onar Aam (onar@HSR.NO)
Tue, 14 Mar 1995 16:50:04 +0100

I've read his previous book, THE EMPEROR'S NEW MIND, and it is about the
non-computable nature of consciousness. There too he suggests we rethink our
physics. Sounds like Shadows of The Mind picks up the thread from his previous
book. In that case it is worth while reading.
That we should rethink our physics is not a new idea. (People at all
times have thought that we should rethink our physics :-) Peter Coveney and
Roger Highfield in their book, THE ARROW OF TIME, criticize both
Newtonian mechanics, relativity and quantum mechanics for being time
symmetrical. That is, none of them distinguish between moving backwards and
forwards in time. All the equations are reversible. All empiric studies of the
real world, however, suggests that time has an arrow, namely forward, from past
to future. The only physical theory which acknowledges this fact is
thermodynamics with its 2nd law (and even this law is empiric. That is, the
conceptual framework of thermodynamics deduces neither the 2nd nor the 0th law
of
thermodynamics as far as I know.) This means that none of our three fundamental
physical theories are suitable for explaining life (or any other dissipative
systems)

Onar.