Chinese Room

7 Pages 1724 Words

Through his writings on the Chinese Room scenario, John R. Searle tries to prove that there is no way artificial intelligence can exist. This means that machines do not posses minds. The debate between those who are in favour of strong and weak artificial intelligence (AI) is directly related to the philosophy of mind. The claim of weak AI is that it is possible to run a program on a machine, which will behave as if it were a thinking thing. Believers of strong AI say that it is possible to create a program running on a machine which not only behaves as if it were thinking, but does actually think. Strong AI followers argue that an installation of a computer program is considered a mind as real as the mind of any human. Searle's claim is that any installation of a program is an operation. The lack of meaning, he states, means that the computer program does not have true understanding and is not truly thinking, it is Through his writings on the Chinese room scenario, John R. Searle tries to prove there simply computing and processing symbols.
Searle begins by talking about a newer computer program written by Roger Schank, which he uses to answer, or at least try to answer, questions about a problem it has been given. Searle remarks that this choice of program is not directly relevant to his argument, but is merely an example. He then suggests that instead of running the program on a machine that it can be represented as a series of written instructions that he could follow. To make sure he is following the instructions, everything is expressed in Chinese, since Searle did not know the language. The complete situation has Searle in a room where Chinese symbols are passed through one slot of the room along with English instructions on how to read them. He then computes them and passes out the meanings through the second slot in the room. Searle’s actions resemble the program of the functionalist Schank. The inpu...