When I was in Cambridge reading mathematics, I went to Amsterdam for the International Mathematics Congress. There I saw M.C. Escher's fascinating work. That inspired me to try my hand at drawing such impossibilities.
Roger PenroseRead
A computational device is incapable of developing a mind. We got consciousness not just by being clever.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes that intelligence alone does not equate to consciousness or true understanding.
Roger Penrose highlights the distinction between mere computational ability and the complex nature of consciousness. He suggests that having a mind involves more than just advanced computation or cleverness; it includes deeper elements of awareness and experience that machines currently lack.
Themes
ConsciousnessMindIntelligenceComputationalPhilosophy
In practice
Example use cases
In a debate about artificial intelligence, one might use this quote to assert the limitations of machines.
More from Roger Penrose
All quotes βSome people take the view that the universe is simply there, and it runs along - it's a bit as though it just sort of computes, and we happen by accident to find ourselves in this thing. I don't think that's a very fruitful or helpful way of looking at the universe.
Roger PenroseRead
Consciousness ... is the phenomenon whereby the universe's very existence is made known.
Roger PenroseRead
Some years ago, I wrote a book called the Emperorβs New Mind and that book was describing a point of view I had about consciousness and why it was not something that comes about from complicated calculations.
Roger PenroseRead
I believe there is something going on in a conscious being, which includes many animals, as well as ourselves, that is not a computational activity. And to be conscious at all is not a quality that a computer as such will ever possess - no matter how complicated, no matter how well it plays chess or any of these things.
Roger PenroseRead
Some people take the view that we happen by accident. I think that there is something much deeper, of which we have very little inkling at the moment.
Roger PenroseRead
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