Roger Penrose Quotes & Sayings

So what I'm saying is why don't we think about changing Schrodinger's equation at some level when masses become too big at the level that you might have to worry about Einstein's general relativity. — Roger Penrose

Some 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 Penrose

Do not be afraid to skip equations (I do this frequently myself). — Roger Penrose

Well I didn't actually see the Matrix but I've seen other movies where with similar sorts of themes. — Roger Penrose

In the present chapter, we tried to pinpoint the place in the brain where quantum action might be important to classical behaviour, and have apparently been driven to consider that it is through the cytoskeletal control of synaptic connections that this quantum/classical interface exerts its fundamental influence on the brain's behaviour. — Roger Penrose

There is a certain sense in which I would say the universe has a purpose. It's not there by chance. — Roger Penrose

We have a closed circle of consistency here: the laws of physics produce complex systems, and these complex systems lead to consciousness, which then produces mathematics, which can then encode in a succinct and inspiring way the very underlying laws of physics that gave rise to it. — Roger Penrose

The perceiving of mathematical truth can be achieved in very many different ways. There can be little doubt that whatever detailed physical activity it is that takes place when a person perceives the truth of some mathematical statement, this physical activity must differ very substantially from individual to individual, even though they are perceiving precisely the same mathematical truth. Thus, if mathematicians just use computational algorithms to form their unassailable mathematical truth judgments, these very algorithms are likely to differ in their detailed construction, from individual to individual. Yet, in some clear sense, the algorithms would have to be equivalent to one another. — Roger Penrose

Consciousness ... is the phenomenon whereby the universe's very existence is made known. — Roger Penrose

Quantum mechanics makes absolutely no sense. — Roger Penrose

There are considerable mysteries surrounding the strange values that Nature's actual particles have for their mass and charge. For example, there is the unexplained 'fine structure constant' ... governing the strength of electromagnetic interactions, ... — Roger Penrose

It may well be there is something else going on in the brain that we don't have an inkling of at the moment. — Roger Penrose

As for morality, well that's all tied up with the question of consciousness. — Roger Penrose

Even an aardvarks think their offspring are beautiful — Roger Penrose

Our present picture of physical reality, particularly in relation to the nature of time, is due for a grand shake up — Roger Penrose

What right do we have to claim, as some might, that human beings are the only inhabitants of our planet blessed with an actual ability to be "aware"? ... The impression of a "conscious presence" is indeed very strong with me when I look at a dog or a cat or, especially, when an ape or monkey at the zoo looks at me. I do not ask that they are "self-aware" in any strong sense (though I would guess that an element of self-awareness can be present). All I ask is that they sometimes simply feel ! — Roger Penrose

I'm pretty tenacious when it comes to problems. — Roger Penrose

My own way of thinking is to ponder long and I hope deeply on problems and for a long time which I keep away for years and years and I never really let them go. — Roger Penrose

And these little things may not seem like much but after a while they take you off on a direction where you may be a long way off from what other people have been thinking about. — Roger Penrose

Understanding is, after all, what science is all about - and science is a great deal more than mindless computation. — Roger Penrose

It is always the case, with mathematics, that a little direct experience of thinking over things on your own can provide a much deeper understanding than merely reading about them. — Roger Penrose

I imagine that whenever the mind perceives a mathematical idea, it makes contact with Plato's world of mathematical concepts ... When mathematicians communicate, this is made possible by each one having a direct route to truth, the consciousness of each being in a position to perceive mathematical truths directly, through the process of 'seeing'. — Roger Penrose

Ordinary photons do have spin, they have a notion of helicity so they spin around their direction on motion. — Roger Penrose

It seems to me that we must make a distinction between what is "objective" and what is "measurable" in discussing the question of physical reality, according to quantum mechanics. The state-vector of a system is, indeed, not measurable , in the sense that one cannot ascertain, by experiments performed on the system, precisely (up to proportionality) what the state is; but the state-vector does seem to be (again up to proportionality) a completely objective property of the system, being completely characterized by the results it must give to experiments that one might perform. — Roger Penrose

With thought comprising a non-computational element, computers can never do what we human beings can. — Roger Penrose

But I think it is a serious issue to wonder about the other platonic absolutes of say beauty and morality. — Roger Penrose

If you didn't have any conscious beings in the world, there really wouldn't be morality but with consciousness that you have it. — Roger Penrose

Ambition, idly vain; revenge and malice swell her train. — Roger Penrose

It is hard to see how one could begin to develop a quantum-theoretical description of brain action when one might well have to regard the brain as "observing itself" all the time! — Roger Penrose

Well, gauge theory is very fundamental to our understanding of physical forces these days. But they are also dependent on a mathematical idea, which has been around for longer than gauge theory has. — Roger Penrose

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 Penrose

The idea is if you use those two shapes and try to colour the plane with them so the colours match, then the only way that you can do this is to produce a pattern which never repeats itself. — Roger Penrose

I would say the universe has a purpose. It's not there just somehow by chance. — Roger Penrose

In the book, I make the point that here we have string theory and here we have twistor theory and we don't know if either one of them is the right approach to nature. — Roger Penrose

Well, I don't know if I can comment on Kant or Hegel because I'm no real philosopher in the sense of knowing what these people have said in any detail so let me not comment on that too much. — Roger Penrose

People think of these eureka moments and my feeling is that they tend to be little things, a little realisation and then a little realisation built on that. — Roger Penrose

No doubt there are some who, when confronted with a line of mathematical symbols, however simply presented, can only see the face of a stern parent or teacher who tried to force into them a non-comprehending parrot-like apparent competence
a duty and a duty alone
and no hint of magic or beauty of the subject might be allowed to come through. — Roger Penrose

The basic theory in twistor theory is not to add extra dimensions. — Roger Penrose

This book is about physics and its about physics and its relationship with mathematics and how they seem to be intimately related and to what extent can you explore this relationship and trust it. — Roger Penrose

Some years ago, I wrote a book called the Emperor's 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 Penrose

I was indeed very slow as a youngster. — Roger Penrose

Intelligence cannot be present without understanding. No computer has any awareness of what it does. — Roger Penrose

As you say, the way string theory requires all these extra dimensions and this comes from certain consistency requirements about how string should behave and so on. — Roger Penrose