#85 – Roger Penrose: Physics of Consciousness and the Infinite Universe

Roger Penrose is physicist, mathematician, and philosopher at University of Oxford. He has made fundamental contributions in many disciplines from the mathematical physics of general relativity and cosmology to the limitations of a computational view of consciousness.

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Here’s the outline of the episode. On some podcast players you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time.

OUTLINE:
00:00– Introduction
03:51– 2001:A Space Odyssey
09:43– Consciousness and computation
23:45– What does it mean to “understand”
31:37– What’s missing in quantum mechanics?
40:09– Whatever consciousness is, it’s not a computation
44:13– Source of consciousness in the human brain
1:02:57– Infinite cycles of big bangs
1:22:05– Most beautiful idea in mathematics