The Chinese Room Argument

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The ChineseRoom Argument

• Joe Lau

2
Readings

• Searle and Churchlands articles in Scientific
  American.
• Ned Blocks Computer Model of the Mind
• Online notes from James Pryor

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Issue

• Can computations be sufficient for thinking or
  other mental states?
• Not to be confused with
• Can machines think?
• Can a computer simulate the mind?
• Does the mind carry out computations?
• Can computers think?

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Against computational sufficiency

• Bad argument
• Current computers cannot do X.
• So computations cannot be sufficient for X.
• In-principle argument needed, e.g.
• Mental state X requires Y.
• No computational process can generate Y.
• So computations are not sufficient for X.

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The Chinese Room
hmmm what does that mean?
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The argument (a reductio argument)

• Suppose there is a program sufficient to produce
  understanding of Chinese.
• A person in the Chinese room can in principle
  carry out this program.
• But such a person would not understand Chinese.
• So no program is by itself sufficient to produce
  understanding of Chinese.

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Churchlands reply

• The program cannot be carried out in the Chinese
  room.
• The Chinese room implements only serial
  processing.
• The brain carries out parallel processing.
• Searle Change the Chinese room into the Chinese
  gym.

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Another reply

• The person does understand Chinese, but he is not
  conscious of his understanding.
• Is this a good reply?

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The system reply

• The argument is not valid. (Conclusion does not
  follow from assumptions.)
• The system as a whole understands Chinese even if
  the person does not.
• The person is only the central processor of the
  whole system.

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Searles Rejoinder

• The person can internalize the whole system, by
  remembering all the rules, etc.
• Now the person the system.
• The person still does not understand Chinese.
• So the system does not understand Chinese.

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Evaluation

• Why accept the person the system?
• Searle There is nothing in the system that is
  not in the person
• But this shows at most that the system is within
  the person, not identical with it.
• Diagnosis
• It is possible that the person carries out
  computations that produce Chinese understanding,
  but the person cannot access the knowledge.

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Emulation screenshot MS windows on Linux
MS Windows
Linux