Computers aren't a black box mystery. We understand how they work. We understand that they are implementations of Turing machines (or similar computational mode

Computers aren't a black box mystery. We understand how they work. We understand that they are implementations of Turing machines (or similar computational models), and Turing machines are by definition a formalism and thus syntactic in nature. Computers are therefore no more than syntactic machines (I would further claim that computers aren't strictly speaking syntactic machines either, but physical artifacts -- and we can use different physical properties and states toward this end -- that simulate a formalized, syntactical system). Syntax as such is semantically blind, so to speak. Human beings, on the other hand, do "possess" meanings. We have concepts. Pure syntax can never amount to a single concept anymore than purely speaking about climbing Mt. Everest ever itself amounts to actually climbing Mt. Everest. Any semantics we associate with computer programs is entirely an act of interpretation on the human end.