In the readition of the bestselling Chaos and A Brief History of Time, here is a science book with mainstream appeal. Proponents of artificial intelligence maintain that eventually a computer will be able to do everything a human mind can do, but Oxford University Professor of Mathematics Roger Penrose explains his view that there are facets of human thinking that can never be emulated by a machine. Drawings throughout.
Some love it, some hate it, but The Emperor's New Mind, physicist Roger Penrose's 1989 treatise attacking the foundations of strong artificial intelligence, is crucial for anyone interested in the history of thinking about AI and consciousness. Part survey of modern physics, part exploration of the philosophy of mind, the book is not for casual readers--though it's not overly technical, it rarely pauses to let the reader catch a breath. The overview of relativity and quantum theory, written by a master, is priceless and uncontroversial. The exploration of consciousness and AI, though, is generally considered as resting on shakier ground.
Penrose claims that there is an intimate, perhaps unknowable relation between quantum effects and our thinking, and ultimately derives his anti-AI stance from his proposition that some, if not all, of our thinking is non-algorithmic. Of course, these days we believe that there are other avenues to AI than traditional algorithmic programming; while he has been accused of setting up straw robots to knock down, this accusation is unfair. Little was then known about the power of neural networks and behavior-based robotics to simulate (and, some would say, produce) intelligent problem-solving behavior. Whether these tools will lead to strong AI is ultimately a question of belief, not proof, and The Emperor's New Mind offers powerful arguments useful to believer and nonbeliever alike. --Rob Lightner

集异璧－GEB，是数学家哥德尔、版画家艾舍尔、音乐家巴赫三个名字的前缀。《哥德尔、艾舍尔、巴赫书：集异璧之大成》是在英语世界中有极高评价的科普著作，曾获得普利策非小说奖。它通过对哥德尔的数理逻辑，艾舍尔的版画和巴赫的音乐三者的综合阐述，引人入胜地介绍了数理逻辑 学、可计算理 论、人工智能学、语言学、遗传学、音乐、绘画的理论等方面，构思精巧、含义深刻、视野广阔、富于哲学韵味。
中译本前后费时十余年，译者都是数学和哲学的专家，还得到原作者的直接参与，译文严谨通达，特别是在原作者的帮助下，把西方的文化典故和说法，尽可能转换为中国文化的典故和说法，使这部译本甚至可看作是一部新的创作，也是中外翻译史上的一个创举。

Scopo di questo volumetto è mostrare, attraverso contributi vari, che illuminano esempi anche molto lontani tra loro, come la Matematica con le sue legi e con la sua magia sia presente un po' ovunque nell'Universo: dalla spirale logaritmica della conchiglia del Nautilus all'esagono delle cellette dell'alveare, dalla stella a sei punte del cristallo di neve alla geometria del sistema solare.