Although his book Shadows of the Mind is above all conceived as a radical critique of the
strong Artificial Intelligence (AI) stance relying on the fundamental idea that the universe is
merely a big computer, it gives us valuable insights in enlightening the concept of social
agency in ICTs environments. The target of Penrose’s critique is the immense trust of AI
proponents in the idea of a society in which computer-controlled robots will have a ‘‘mind’’
exceeding human capacities, and as such will be able to solve the problems of this world
induced by humanity. However, the issue can be considered from another viewpoint. It
seems that our planet will ultimately be ruled by insentient machines. This is a stance with
serious political implications, chiefly because of its strikingly operational attitude towards
science; the physical world functions completely computationally, and physical objects are
merely ‘‘patterns of information’’. Moreover, quantum theory tells us that material particles are pure ‘‘waves’’ of information. Therefore, the persistence of ‘‘Self’’ has more to do with
preserving patterns than with actual particles.