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Could you point out exactly where I can see a sound refutation to the 'Chinese room'? I followed the wikipedia link but did not see any serious attempt to refut

Could you point out exactly where I can see a sound refutation to the 'Chinese room'? I followed the wikipedia link but did not see any serious attempt to refute it - just one guy echoing what you've said. You sound a bit like many of the people who completely miss the point of the argument and insult it (or its author).

hackinthebochs 6y ago
The Chinese room argument says that syntax cannot capture semantics since a man blindly executing rules to process Chinese symbols would not understand Chinese. But the man isn't the the system that is purported to understand Chinese. That's like saying the CPU in a computer doesn't have memory so your computer doesn't have memory. But of course that's wrong, other components of the system provide the function of memory. Using properties of the CPU to determine properties of the system as a whole is a mistake. You might recognize this as the system's reply for which Searle has a response. But his response is insufficient to save the argument as it merely equivocates on what "the system" is. The system is the set of rules and the database of facts, some input/output mechanism, and some central processor to execute the rules against the symbols. The system's reply says that the man blindly executing instructions is not identical to the system that understands Chinese, namely the entire room. Thus properties of the man have no bearing on the properties of the system; that the man does not understand Chinese has no bearing on whether the system as a whole understands Chinese. But the man is still not "the system" when he memorizes the instructions and leaves the room. The system is some subset of the man, specifically only those brain networks required to carry out the processing of the symbols. Importantly, these brain networks are different than what we take the man to be. It is true that the man doesn't speak Chinese, but since the system processing symbols is still not identical to the man, properties of the man do not bear on properties of the system. So still, the fact that the man blindly executing instructions doesn't speak Chinese does not entail that the system doesn't speak Chinese.

hackinthebochs 6y ago

The Chinese room argument says that syntax cannot capture semantics since a man blindly executing rules to process Chinese symbols would not understand Chinese. But the man isn't the the system that is purported to understand Chinese. That's like saying the CPU in a computer doesn't have memory so your computer doesn't have memory. But of course that's wrong, other components of the system provide the function of memory. Using properties of the CPU to determine properties of the system as a whole is a mistake. You might recognize this as the system's reply for which Searle has a response. But his response is insufficient to save the argument as it merely equivocates on what "the system" is. The system is the set of rules and the database of facts, some input/output mechanism, and some central processor to execute the rules against the symbols. The system's reply says that the man blindly executing instructions is not identical to the system that understands Chinese, namely the entire room. Thus properties of the man have no bearing on the properties of the system; that the man does not understand Chinese has no bearing on whether the system as a whole understands Chinese. But the man is still not "the system" when he memorizes the instructions and leaves the room. The system is some subset of the man, specifically only those brain networks required to carry out the processing of the symbols. Importantly, these brain networks are different than what we take the man to be. It is true that the man doesn't speak Chinese, but since the system processing symbols is still not identical to the man, properties of the man do not bear on properties of the system. So still, the fact that the man blindly executing instructions doesn't speak Chinese does not entail that the system doesn't speak Chinese.