Their main point was that pre-computers, cognition was theorized to be tied to physical stimulus. When humans learned how to code computers, "AI" was theorized

Their main point was that pre-computers, cognition was theorized to be tied to physical stimulus. When humans learned how to code computers, "AI" was theorized as existing in "black boxes" of pure abstract symbol manipulation. The paper discusses how this doesn't make sense, and how cognition must be tied to biological sensing to be "smart".