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From: pja1@rsvl.unisys.com
Subject: Re: Penrose's new book
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Date: Wed, 19 Oct 1994 19:31:27 GMT
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In article <1994Oct16.013727.11664@news.media.mit.edu> minsky@media.mit.edu (Marvin Minsky) writes:
>From: minsky@media.mit.edu (Marvin Minsky)
>Subject: Re: Penrose's new book
>Date: Sun, 16 Oct 1994 01:37:27 GMT

>In article <pja1.16.0151A0DA@rsvl.unisys.com> pja1@rsvl.unisys.com writes:
>>
>>Anyone interested in reading Penrose's new book should first read 
>>Schroedinger's classic essay "What is Life?", Schroedinger's and Penrose's 
>>views of the physico-chemical basis of biological phenomena are diametrically 
>>opposed and irreconcilable. IMHO, Penrose's book smacks of obscurantism.

>Could you summarize Schroedinger's conclusion toward the end of his
>book.  I read it long ago.  But I remember it ending up pretty much
>obscurantly, too.

Schroedinger is neither obscure nor an obscurant, on the contrary, his essay 
is a model of clarity and an outstanding example of scientific writing for the 
nonspecialist. In Penrose's words, "Like so many works that have had a great 
impact on human thinking, it makes points that, once they are grasped, have a 
ring of almost self-evident truth; yet they are still blindly ignored by a 
disconcertingly large proportion of people who should know 
better." Schroedinger argues that our understanding of the physico-chemical 
properties of matter is sufficient to plausibly explain the workings of the 
biological organism as a clockwork. Our understanding of the physico-chemical 
properties of matter are fundamentally based on the quantum mechanical nature 
of the physical world--life is predicated on this fact! According to 
Schroedinger, the "permance" and "dynamic behavior" of a biological organism 
is founded upon quantum mechanical principles--this is the basis for modeling 
biological phenomena "classicly." It was only with extreme difficulty that I 
was able to suppress the impulse to eject Penrose's new book out the nearest 
window after I finished reading the first paragraph of section 7.1!

:-)








