Reason Special interview with Roger Penrose

[squamish4244]

Penrose is one of the most important physicists working today, because he is willing to look out outside the box.

[sgtmcwallace]

This is a great map of how self criticism actually works

[pritch481]

Hegel might be of some use here.

[SuperFractality]

One must learn to think rationally rather then logically.

[alexeevic]

@SuperFractality Strange... I always thought that those two wore somehow... intertwined :p

[mossfitz]

@alexeevic Joyce´s "Do i contradict myself? Very well, i contradict myself." is hardly logic - but is of course rational.

[Mattprole]

Penrose books don't insult our intelligence. It presents us with the maths that are entirely necessary for genuine comprehension of the sciences.

[albedoshader]

@Mattprole: At last, someone is speaking it out loud. Thanks for that. There are too many people around with "theories" who don't have the slightest clue about even the basics of physics. That's the backside of Youtube. 20 years ago those people were just some weirdos who printed their own books at home and sold them via snail mail to other weirdos. :)

[rh001YT]

Penrose talks about the holding of contradictory ideas at the same time as if that's something profound, but that practice has been around for eons, and was likely used by very primitive humans. I suspect some animals can do that too.

[jt101010]

@rh001YT -- Relax. He's answering a simple question.

[DavidAKZ]

How are you going with the maths ?

[signorellil]

The thing with "Road to Reality" is that there's an awful lot of math... but is presented so skillfully, and is so interesting, that you end up feeling you HAVE to learn the math to see "what's going on". By the fifth or sixth chapter you're knee deep into toe-to-toe combat with complex analisys, but you would give up trying to figure out the math (and thus understand the concepts) even if your life depended on it. Believe me, it's that good!

[DavidAKZ]

I struggle with the maths in some places. But I think I get the physics. Thanks for the reply

[albedoshader]

@signorellil: Absolutely. Penrose's achievement is that you can enjoy the book even if you understand only 10% or less of it. He's an amazing writer. And the mathematical problems in the footnotes with those funny symbols for different degrees of frustration you would get solving them - plain genius.

[gamesbok]

The maths is not trivial, but it's worth the struggle,

[mrqsilveira]

Powerful mind! Excellent teacher! Outstanding man!

[givemeblowjob69]

@mrqsilveira amen to that

[DontFretBrett]

Considering if you're wrong isn't sidestepping reason, that IS reasoning.. same with looking at both sides of a position.

[DavidAKZ]

yeap ! If you're confused it shows you are thinking !

[jlke45]

@DontFretBrett Exactly!

What a bizarrely described video.

[DontFretBrett]

@jlke45 Yeah epic fail

[amozoness6]

Did this man work with Mr. Hawking?

[AlmightScoop]

yes, and they coauthored 'The Nature of Space and Time'.

[amozoness6]

Wow, I feel honored just to watch a clip of him speak. :)