Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!mcsun!ukc!edcastle!aipdc
From: aipdc@castle.ed.ac.uk (Paul D. Crowley)
Newsgroups: comp.ai
Subject: Re: Hayes vs. Searle
Message-ID: <4550@castle.ed.ac.uk>
Date: 7 Jun 90 11:42:44 GMT
References: <16875@phoenix.Princeton.EDU> <2629@skye.ed.ac.uk> <13772@venera.isi.edu> <2703@skye.ed.ac.uk>
Reply-To: aipdc@castle.ed.ac.uk (Paul D. Crowley)
Organization: Edinburgh University Computing Service
Lines: 10

Even if we dismiss words like "understanding", it still seems unwise to
concede that there is _any_ significant quality of human thought which
machines can never share.  As far as I can see, the weasel phrase in the
Chinese Room is not "understanding" but "causative power".  Just what is
the magical difference between neurons and logic gates allowing one but
not the other to participate in "Searle-type-understanding"?

-- 
\/ o\ Paul Crowley aipdc@uk.ac.ed.castle
/\__/ "Trust me, I know what I'm doing" - Sledge Hammer