I've always viewed the Chinese Room and similar thought experiments as a distraction from reasoning about the practical implications of machine learning. We do

I've always viewed the Chinese Room and similar thought experiments as a distraction from reasoning about the practical implications of machine learning. We don't understand "understanding" in the vast majority of practical ML systems that currently exist, let alone the physical implementation of "understanding" in our own brains. And yet, understanding "understanding" in ML has never been a pre-requisite to economic viability. GPT4 can displace certain low-grade cognitive laborers regardless of whether or not we understand how it works, or whether or not its understanding is "true".