This week's thought experiment is going to require a bit of explanation, so let's take a quick look at it before I link to something much clearer.
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The booth of the clairvoyant Jun was one of the most popular in Beijing. What made Jun stand out was not the accuracy of her observations, but the fact that she was deaf and mute. She would insist on sitting behind a screen and communicating by scribbled notes, passed through a curtain.
Jun was attracting the customers of a rival, Shing, who became convinced that Jun's deafness and muteness were affectations, designed to make her stand out from the crowd. So one day, he paid her a visit, in order to expose her.
After a few routine questions, Shing started to challenge Jun's inability to talk. Jun showed no signs of being disturbed by this. Her replies came at the same speed, the handwriting remained the same. In the end, a frustrated Shing tore the curtain down and pushed the barrier aside. And there he saw, not Jun, but a man he would later find out was called John, sitting in front of a computer, typing in the last message he had passed through. Shing screamed at the man to explain himself.
"Don't hassle me, dude," replied John. "I don't understand a word you're saying. No speak Chinese, comprende?"
Source: Chapter 2 of Minds, Brains, and Science by John Searle (1984)
Baggini, J., The Pig That Wants to Be Eaten, 2005, p. 115.
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Baggini hasn't quite illustrated the full scenario here, so it's hard to know what he's getting at. It's actually meant to provoke a discussion about Artificial Intelligence, so watch this 60-second video to see why.
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The booth of the clairvoyant Jun was one of the most popular in Beijing. What made Jun stand out was not the accuracy of her observations, but the fact that she was deaf and mute. She would insist on sitting behind a screen and communicating by scribbled notes, passed through a curtain.
Jun was attracting the customers of a rival, Shing, who became convinced that Jun's deafness and muteness were affectations, designed to make her stand out from the crowd. So one day, he paid her a visit, in order to expose her.
After a few routine questions, Shing started to challenge Jun's inability to talk. Jun showed no signs of being disturbed by this. Her replies came at the same speed, the handwriting remained the same. In the end, a frustrated Shing tore the curtain down and pushed the barrier aside. And there he saw, not Jun, but a man he would later find out was called John, sitting in front of a computer, typing in the last message he had passed through. Shing screamed at the man to explain himself.
"Don't hassle me, dude," replied John. "I don't understand a word you're saying. No speak Chinese, comprende?"
Source: Chapter 2 of Minds, Brains, and Science by John Searle (1984)
Baggini, J., The Pig That Wants to Be Eaten, 2005, p. 115.
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Baggini hasn't quite illustrated the full scenario here, so it's hard to know what he's getting at. It's actually meant to provoke a discussion about Artificial Intelligence, so watch this 60-second video to see why.
So what do you think? Can a computer ever really be more than John in his Chinese room? I'll enter my own thoughts in my computer on Friday to hopefully share something intelligent about this.
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