John Searle's Chinese Room Argument The purpose of this paper is to present John Searle’s Chinese room argument in which it challenges the notions of the computational paradigm, specifically the ability of intentionality. Then I will outline two of the commentaries following, the first by Bruce Bridgeman, which is in opposition to Searle and uses the super robot to exemplify his point. Then I will discuss John Eccles’ response, which entails a general agreement with Searle with a few objections to definitions and comparisons. My own argument will take a minimalist computational approach delineating understanding and its importance to the concepts of the computational paradigm. Searle's argument delineates what he believes to be …show more content…
Understanding the notion of the Chinese room requires a bit of an explanation. Imagine you are solely an English speaking person in a room by yourself, armed with a pencil, and the only things on the walls are a series of instructions and rules. There is a door in the room, and on the other side is a Chinese speaking person. This Chinese speaker is able to slide cards under the door upon which are written Chinese symbols and sentences. The instructions written on the walls allow you to respond appropriately to each symbol, well enough so that the Chinese speaker is fooled into thinking you have a formidable grasp of Chinese. Now imagine that instead of a Chinese speaker outside the room, there is an English speaker, and the same things are written. You would still respond appropriately, convincing the other that you are a native English speaker, which of course, you are. Searle feels that the two positions are unique in that, in the first instance, you are "manipulating uninterpreted formal symbols," simply an instantiation of a computer program. In the second instance, you actually understand the English being given to you. In response to the first claim of the computationalists, Searle states, although you respond appropriately, in no way do you understand the Chinese that you are being given and responding with. As far as the second condition, he counterclaims that the computer is simply "functioning and there
Is Martha right in her idea that the robot cannot think, which is why it could never be a duplication of a human, such as Ash? This paper shall attempt to demonstrate the validity of artificial intelligence’s inability to be thinking, conscious entities via Black Mirror’s “Be Right Back” episode by supporting it with Descartes’ Dualism theory.
Only recently has the topic arisen in its modern interpretation, but mankind has long pondered over the possibility of automation. For centuries, scientists, authors, and philosophers have discussed the potential creation of automatons, or automated machines, as well as the possibility that the processes of the human mind are mechanical, and could perhaps be replicated artificially. In his 1748 materialist work titled L’Homme Machine, or “Man a Machine”, philosopher Julien Offray de La Mettrie describes “that thought seems to be a property of matter, like electricity, power to move, impenetrability, extension, etc” (de La Mettrie 30). De La Mettrie negated the ideals of Descartes, who had previously stated that the functions of the mind were of a different nature. This new way of thinking helped to get the scientific ball rolling for the future creation of intelligent machinery. For the majority of history, such matters would be considered supernatural or simply out of the realm of foreseeable scientific accomplishment, in that they were merely works of fiction and such technology was too far out of reach. However, with the development of computer technologies in the 1900’s, suddenly the sky became the limit. With the help of computers, new innovations quickly advanced the technology industry, allowing for much more efficient
Consciousness a term explained as being aware of all surroundings, emerging from the functions of the brain. When a person gets used to something they may be able to think of other things at the same time, until a change happens, then they regain their consciousness to what they were doing. This essay is to further explore the target which is the slides from lecture 17 consciousness using the slides Meanings and automatization by using examples from the book “ The Robots Rebellion” by Keith E. Stanovich, which is the base to further explain and expand on these points.
To show this point the author’s write about Cao’s experiences with a language struggle between family members. This narration gives the reader a close up look at how language works in a family. Besides using narration she always uses a little cause and effect by sharing the results of having language separation. She gave three examples of conversational situations in her household. The languages Vietnamese, Hainanese, Mandarin, and English are used interchangeably. Looking at the dialogues in the article made the conversation seem broken because there were four languages being used. The first conversation is between Cao’s mom and one of her siblings, Tung. It has to do with Tung not wanting to eat the large amount of noodles Mom prepared for him. Then she asks about Tung’s homework and he is unable to explain it to her because they do not share a fluent language between them. In the article this selection was described as a “routinized interactive exchange” (Thomas & Cao 64). This means that the two of them were able to have small talk based on things like food. But they
A Room with a View, by Edward Morgan Forster, presents the story of Lucy Honeychurch, a young woman belonging to English “high society.'; Foster places this young maiden in a state of conflict between the snobbery of her class, the “suitable and traditional'; views and advice offered by various family members and friends, and her true heart’s desire. This conflict “forces Lucy Honeychurch to choose between convention and passion (Bantam Intro-back cover),'; and throws her into a state of internal struggle, as she must sift through the elements of her “social conditioning'; and discern them from her true emotions and desires. Foster develops and utilizes Lucy’s internal struggle as a means of transforming her from
John Pomfret began his story Chinese Lessons as a third year Stanford student that felt extremely optimistic about gaining the opportunity to benefit from American political efforts to create friendly relations with China. He begins in 1979; here the author takes the reader through the immense difficulties associated with Americans studying abroad on Chinese soil. He describes his first interaction with Cao Guisheng, a Chinese spy (unknown at the time), working as a Chinese Diplomat. With his help, John was then permitted to study the Chinese language at Beijing languages Institute. After the author developed tedious study habits, he applied for Nanjing University, a school that allowed foreigners to
Mckissick, Floyd. “CORE Endorses Black Power.” In Let Nobody Turn Us Around: Voices of Resistance, Reform and Renewal: An African American Anthology, edited by Marable, Manning, and Leith Mullings. Rowman & Littlefield, 2003.
Here Kingston’s mom uses language as a “sign” (Gates 50); by using language to signify the “difference between cultures”, Gates determines that Kingston’s mom is endowing Chinese culture with a certain “possession of power, spelling the difference between subordinate [American] and superordinate [Chinese]” with language (Gates 51). One of Kingston’s childhood memories of an interaction with a ghost best illustrates this idea. Kingston and her siblings would watch these ghosts from their window, but on a certain occasion they teased one through a window repeatedly taunting “the Garbage Ghost” in Chinese; its as[sign]ed name. Then in a shocking moment for the children, the ghost turns around and speaks in broken yet coherent words, “…bage…Ghost?” Then in a panic they run to their mother who shuts the window and says that “they have learned it… human language” and that the children should never speak in front of them again with the hope that they will not have to because, “Someday, very soon” they would go “home, where there are Han people everywhere” (Kingston
I as a reader enjoy reading, however I do not do it as often as I would like. I always have trouble starting books, I would say that the first five to chapters are the hardest to get through. I admire how with reading you are able to make your own depiction of what’s happening, instead of seeing what others envisioned. To me a great book must have twists and turns to keep me interested. I love being able to get to know the characters, feeling as if they are apart of your own life, being able to see them as almost a friend in your own life. Taking their life lessons and putting them to use in your own. I like more romantici books where they have to get over many obstacles to obtain their great love. I also enjoy reading about a character who is able to turn their troubles around and become better than they once were.
The Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio, collected and put into text by Chinese scholar Pu Songling, is a collection of tales of mostly alchemic, supernatural, and paranormal nature. One of the common threads that runs through the collection is that of the sexual encounters and sexual relations between people, people and creatures, and people and supernatural beings. These stories deal with the subject of sexual indulgence, and clearly connote sex as a negative and dangerous aspect of human desires. Stir-Fry, the last story in Strange Tales, however, forcefully deviates from that trend of the perception of sexual desire. In Stir-Fry, Pu glides over the topic of the dildo and treats it as if it were just any normal other object that would be ridiculous to cook and serve guests at dinner. A scholar’s sexual desires are no less strange than the tales of sex in stories such as “The Fornicating Dog,” “The Painted Skin,” “Snake Island,” and especially “Lotus Fragrance.” The sexual nature of the toy Pu ignores completely, and he enforces the idea that sexual desires or encounters are not as strange or taboo as Pu himself makes them out to be in his earlier stories in the Strange Tales collection.
Consciousness is the outcome of billions of years of natural selection and randomized occurrences that gave us life and the ability to be self sustaining, self controlling and self repairing. In terms of evolution we did not start with possessing a consciousness, in fact we developed one in order to became the humans we are today. What if in fact, robotic creation is the same, they are on their own evolutionary track of improvement and progression until a conscious state is achieved. In this paper I will argue there is no true opposing argument. I will highlight that there is a possibility for the garage built robot, Hal to have become a conscious entity because a machine being conscious does not contradict any
John Searle formulated the Chinese Room Argument in the early 80’s as an attempt to prove that computers are not cognitive operating systems. In short though the immergence of artificial and computational systems has rapidly increased the infinite possibility of knowledge, Searle uses the Chinese room argument to shown that computers are not cognitively independent.
The Representational Theory of Mind proposes that we, as both physiological and mental beings, are systems which operate based on symbols and interpretations of the meanings of such symbols rather than beings which operate just on physiological processes (chemical reactions and biological processes). It offers that humans and their Minds are computing machines, mental software (the Mind) which runs on physical hardware (the body). It suggests, too, that we are computing machines functioning as something other than a computing machine, just as every other machine does.
Rene Descartes’ “Discourse on the Method” focuses on distinguishing the human rationale, apart from animals and robots. Wherein, he does so by explaining how neither animals, nor machines possess the same mental faculties as humans. For Descartes distinguishes the human rationale apart from non-humans, even though he does agree the two closely resemble each other because of their sense organs, and physical functions (Descartes, pp22). Nevertheless, it is because the mechanical lacks a necessary aspect of the mind, which consequently separates them from humans. For in Descartes “Discourse on the Method,” he argues that the noteworthy difference between humans, and the mechanical is that machines are only responding to the world through of their sense organs. Whereas humans possess the significant faculties of reasoning, which allows them to understand external inputs and information obtained from the surrounding environment. This significantly creates a dividing ‘line’, which separates humans from non-humans. For in this paper, I will firstly distinguish the differences between the human and mechanical’s mentality in regards to Descartes “Discourse on the Method”. Secondly, I will theorize a modern AI that could possess the concept of an intellectual mind, and then hypothesize a powerful AI that lacks the ability to understand its intelligence. Lastly, in disagreeing in why there are no such machines that is equivalent to the human mind. For humans don’t possess all the
In the future, we may be able to build a computer that is comparable to the human brain, but not until we truly understand one thing. Lewis Thomas talks about this in his essay, "Computers." He says, "It is in our collective behavior that we are most mysterious. We won't be able to construct machines like ourselves until we've understood this, and we're not even close" (Thomas 473). Thomas wrote this essay in 1974, and although we have made many technological advances