Roger Penrose

Giacomo Mauro D'Ariano

Emanuele Severino

Fabio Scardigli

Giuseppe Vitiello

Federico Faggin

Ines Testoni

This book centers around a dialogue between Roger Penrose and Emanuele Severino about one of most intriguing topics of our times, the comparison of artificial intelligence and natural intelligence, as well as its extension to the notions of human and machine consciousness. Additional insightful essays by Mauro D'Ariano, Federico Faggin, Ines Testoni, Giuseppe Vitiello and an introduction of Fabio Scardigli complete the book and illuminate different aspects of the debate. Although from completely different points of view, all the authors seem to converge on the idea that it is almost impossible to have real "intelligence" without a form of "consciousness". In fact, consciousness, often conceived as an enigmatic "mirror" of reality (but is it really a mirror?), is a phenomenon under intense investigation by science and technology, particularly in recent decades. Where does this phenomenon originate from (in humans, and perhaps also in animals)? Is it reproducible on some "device"? Do we have a theory of consciousness today? Will we arrive to build thinking or conscious machines, as machine learning, or cognitive computing, seem to promise? These questions and other related issues are discussed in the pages of this work, which provides stimulating reading to both specialists and general readers.

Artificial Intelligence Versus Natural Intelligence

Massimo Blasone

Petr Jizba

This book is a self-contained presentation of the quantum field theory of topological defects created during spontaneous symmetry breakdown phase transitions, with a particular emphasis on phenomenological issues of current interest.

Boson Condensation, Ordered Patterns, and Topological Defects

Quantum Field Theory and Its Macroscopic Manifestations

This introduction to the dissipative quantum model of brain and to its possible implications for consciousness studies is addressed to a broad interdisciplinary audience. Memory and consciousness are approached from the physicist point of view focusing on the basic observation that the brain is an open system continuously interacting with its environment. The unavoidable dissipative character of the brain functioning turns out to be the root of the brain's large memory capacity and of other memory features such as memory association, memory confusion, duration of memory. The openness of the brain implies a formal picture of the world which is modeled on the same brain image: a sort of brain copy or Double, where world objectiveness and the brain implicit subjectivity are conjugated. Consciousness is seen to arise from the permanent dialogue of the brain with its Double. The author's narration of his (re-)search gives a cross-over of the physics of elementary particles and condensed matter, and the brain's basic dynamics. This dynamic interplay makes for a satisfying feeling of the unity of knowledge. (Series A)

The Dissipative Quantum Model of Brain

My Double Unveiled

José Afonso Furtado

editoria, biblioteconomia e comunicazione scientifica

Il libro contemporaneo

This introduction to the dissipative quantum model of brain and to its possible implications for consciousness studies is addressed to a broad interdisciplinary audience. Memory and consciousness are approached from the physicist point of view focusing on the basic observation that the brain is an open system continuously interacting with its environment. The unavoidable dissipative character of the brain functioning turns out to be the root of the brain’s large memory capacity and of other memory features such as memory association, memory confusion, duration of memory. The openness of the brain implies a formal picture of the world which is modeled on the same brain image: a sort of brain copy or “Double”, where world objectiveness and the brain implicit subjectivity are conjugated. Consciousness is seen to arise from the permanent “dialogue” of the brain with its Double. The author’s narration of his (re-)search gives a cross-over of the physics of elementary particles and condensed matter, and the brain’s basic dynamics. This dynamic interplay makes for a “satisfying feeling of the unity of knowledge”. (Series A)

The dissipative quantum model of brain

Giuseppe Vitiello

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