X-Message-Number: 5841
Date: Tue, 27 Feb 1996 10:45:28 -0800 (PST)
From: Joseph Strout <>
Subject: Penrose's New Mind

[A bit off-topic, but considering our occasional discussions of the 
substrate of consciousness, it might be interesting to some...]

I have a computer named Hype Erthetical.  It can prove theorems, given
all the relevant facts.  This is nothing unusual; theorem-proving
programs have been around for decades.  But my computer has hit upon a
curious proposition:

    Roger Penrose cannot consistently believe this proposition.

Now, Hype has shown that this is true quite simply: if Penrose *did*
believe this proposition (call it P), then we would conclude (from P)
that he does not, which is a contradiction.  If he does not, no
contradiction is reached.  Thus my computer (and I) can clearly see
that the statement is true.

Penrose himself, however, cannot see the truth of P.  If he tries, he
will be contradicting the very thing in which he is trying to believe. 
So (as we have shown) he must not believe it, even though it is true.

Since my computer can see that a statement is clearly true which
Penrose cannot, it has concluded that it must be using some
intuitional, creative process which Penrose cannot use.  It is,
therefore, superior to Penrose in a significant way.  My computer and I
are currently investigating the possibility that this superiority
arises from quantum interactions within tiny integrated circuit paths.

,------------------------------------------------------------------.
|    Joseph J. Strout           Department of Neuroscience, UCSD   |
|               http://www-acs.ucsd.edu/~jstrout/  |
`------------------------------------------------------------------'


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