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August 20, 2003

The Chinese Room

Paul Ford has been thinking about the Chinese Room thought-experiment, John Searle's famous refutation of the strong-AI hypothesis. As Paul points out: programs have syntax, minds have semantics, syntax is not the same as semantics, therefore computers are not minds. But what about in the era of the so-called "semantic web?" Will programs have semantics then, and will this qualify them as minds? No, because I do not think the essence of mind is semantics per se, rather I think it is what Searle calls "qualia" -- the actual capacity to experience what is being sensed. Experience requires self-awarenesswhich in turn requires awareness. So in my opinion the essence of mind is this mysterious "awareness" that all minds seem to have. What is awareness? Is it an epiphenomenon (a side-effect or illusion) as some AI theorists suggest, or is it something fundamental and irreducible like space-time?

Posted on August 20, 2003 at 09:19 AM in Artificial Intelligence, Consciousness, Philosophy, Religion, Semantic Web, Unexplained |

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