Sublime

Penrose’s world is fundamentally very different from what existing physics describes.

What makes the general theory of relativity so important is not that it can predict planetary motions a shade more accurately than Newton’s theory can, but that it reveals and explains previously unsuspected aspects of reality,

In this way the brain, according to Penrose, does not do mathematics solely by reference to what we currently call the physical world. It has direct access to a Platonic reality of mathematical Forms, and can perceive mathematical truths there with (blunders aside) absolute certainty.

Other prominent physicists such as John von Neumann and Henry Stapp have taken a similar stance.40 Dr. Stephen Hawking’s former coauthor, Roger Penrose, is even talking about consciousness. Penrose, with his co-collaborator, anesthesiologist Dr. Stuart Hameroff, declared: “We conclude that consciousness plays an intrinsic role in the universe.”

Naturally, it is hard to judge Penrose’s theory before he succeeds in formulating it fully.

recommend Brian Greene’s book The Hidden Reality and Russell Standish’s book Theory of Nothing

Martin Bojowald, Once before Time, is one of the most recent proponents of this approach.2