3 ms·

Chinese Room

ftxbro 3y ago
how is chinese room related to p zombie is it a p zombie?
- retrac 3y ago
  As I understand it, the main difference between the Chinese room, and a philosophical zombie, is that the p-zombie would be, by definition, a biological organism physically and behaviourally indistinguishable from ordinary humans. The Chinese room is non-biological -- a set of data and algorithms being followed. The Chinese room would be like a p-zombie's non-mind, in a non-human form. The hypothetical object is very similar -- a system or organism, which behaves as if it has a human-like mind, but which does not actually have a human-like mind with a subjective experience.
  - ftxbro 3y ago
    thanks this is interesting, so the important distinction is the biological vs non biological substrate
    - qbrass 3y ago
      The point of a p-zombie is that it's indistinguishable from a human. A Chinese room could be that in any context that only deals with speech. You could also theoretically memorize how the Chinese room works, as well as the phrase book it uses. You could then go out and have a conversation with someone in Chinese, where the person you're speaking to believes you speak the language, but you have no idea what you or they are talking about. Maybe you're explaining how to break into NORAD, maybe you're hiring an assassin, you don't know because you don't speak the language. Does that make you a p-zombie? Or just the part that speaks Chinese? Maybe you now have multiple personalities now who don't share thoughts or feelings?
ftxbro 3y ago
> Searle supposes that he is in a closed room and has a book with an English version of the computer program, along with sufficient papers, pencils, erasers, and filing cabinets. Searle could receive Chinese characters through a slot in the door, process them according to the program's instructions, and produce Chinese characters as output, without understanding any of the content of the Chinese writing. This is an interesting and valuable thought experiment! > The Chinese room argument holds that a digital computer executing a program cannot have a "mind", "understanding", or "consciousness", regardless of how intelligently or human-like the program may make the computer behave. This doesn't seem to follow from it. For example what if they made artificial pieces of brain made from computer chips and replaced my brain with it bit by bit like a brain of Theseus. This is how your brain already works to some degree, the atoms in your brain aren't the original ones. I don't see how they say this replaced brain cannot have a 'mind' or 'understanding'.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]

how is chinese room related to p zombie is it a p zombie?

retrac 3y ago
As I understand it, the main difference between the Chinese room, and a philosophical zombie, is that the p-zombie would be, by definition, a biological organism physically and behaviourally indistinguishable from ordinary humans. The Chinese room is non-biological -- a set of data and algorithms being followed. The Chinese room would be like a p-zombie's non-mind, in a non-human form. The hypothetical object is very similar -- a system or organism, which behaves as if it has a human-like mind, but which does not actually have a human-like mind with a subjective experience.
- ftxbro 3y ago
  thanks this is interesting, so the important distinction is the biological vs non biological substrate
  - qbrass 3y ago
    The point of a p-zombie is that it's indistinguishable from a human. A Chinese room could be that in any context that only deals with speech. You could also theoretically memorize how the Chinese room works, as well as the phrase book it uses. You could then go out and have a conversation with someone in Chinese, where the person you're speaking to believes you speak the language, but you have no idea what you or they are talking about. Maybe you're explaining how to break into NORAD, maybe you're hiring an assassin, you don't know because you don't speak the language. Does that make you a p-zombie? Or just the part that speaks Chinese? Maybe you now have multiple personalities now who don't share thoughts or feelings?

> Searle supposes that he is in a closed room and has a book with an English version of the computer program, along with sufficient papers, pencils, erasers, and filing cabinets. Searle could receive Chinese characters through a slot in the door, process them according to the program's instructions, and produce Chinese characters as output, without understanding any of the content of the Chinese writing. This is an interesting and valuable thought experiment! > The Chinese room argument holds that a digital computer executing a program cannot have a "mind", "understanding", or "consciousness", regardless of how intelligently or human-like the program may make the computer behave. This doesn't seem to follow from it. For example what if they made artificial pieces of brain made from computer chips and replaced my brain with it bit by bit like a brain of Theseus. This is how your brain already works to some degree, the atoms in your brain aren't the original ones. I don't see how they say this replaced brain cannot have a 'mind' or 'understanding'.

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]