Chess transcends cultures, pulverizes borders, opens minds, teaches, entertains, improves, optimizes. Its magic has spawned an enormous number of riddles, including those small challenges published in various newspapers. But today we come across one that might hold the key to human consciousness. The riddle was designed by Sir Roger Penrose, and it is supposed to be very easy for a human mind, yet should drive any artificial intelligence crazy. Scientists hope to discover fundamental differences between the two and check whether quantum effects are at play in the background.
We all know that an artificial intelligence must be trained… and so must the human mind. But one of the most important differences is that artificial intelligences are not self-aware, and they cannot gain what they lack through simple training. No matter how advanced the available algorithms, they are (for the moment) on par with any other tool. Now, exactly what is that missing something? The new Penrose Institute, which will have divisions at University College London and the University of Oxford, will try to find out: What makes the human mind unique. Studying consciousness from the perspective of physics is not easy and has many opponents; nevertheless, an essential step is to establish the gap between an artificial intelligence and the human mind. The exploration begins… with a chess riddle.
Sir Roger Penrose himself admits: It is very easy for a human being. The situation in the riddle seems impossible, but it is perfectly legal under chess rules. The institute's exact objective is to scan the brains of participants when they discover the solution, a 'Eureka moment' if you will, and, if possible, detect that spark of insight. A human mind needs only a few seconds (and very little energy) to reach an acceptable solution, but the average artificial intelligence gets lost when calculating that black can win from the number of pieces and their position.
Do you still need the solution? Let's see: White must force a draw. They have everything in place to achieve it, and with a particularly bad black player, they could even win. The process comes down to keeping the white king on white squares and never moving the pawn (unless black's play is catastrophic, which would lead the pawn to c8, promote to a queen, and checkmate). Due to the "50-move rule", if there are no captures or pawn moves, the game ends in a draw. Personally, I do not believe that human consciousness will be exposed through a chess exercise, but if the institute wants to try, they are welcome.
Source: The Telegraph.
