Path: utzoo!utgpu!watserv1!watmath!att!att!linac!pacific.mps.ohio-state.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!samsung!emory!gatech!uflorida!cs.fau.edu!longc
From: longc@cs.fau.edu (Courtney Long)
Newsgroups: comp.ai
Subject: Re: Chinese Room Experiment: empirical tests
Message-ID: <1990Nov29.025550.9151@cs.fau.edu>
Date: 29 Nov 90 02:55:50 GMT
References: <7852@uwm.edu> <1990Nov28.003642.22319@fivegl.co.nz>
Organization: Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton
Lines: 42

In article <1990Nov28.003642.22319@fivegl.co.nz> hugh@fivegl.co.nz (Hugh Grierson) writes:
>In article <7852@uwm.edu> markh@csd4.csd.uwm.edu (Mark William Hopkins) writes:
>>So here's what you should do: take out about 10 books written in a language you
>>don't understand (like 10 books written in Spanish).  The language can be one
>>that uses the Latin alphabet, or not.  It doesn't matter.
>>
>>Rewrite the exact contents of each book.  That means, WRITE the contents, don't
>>analyse them.  Don't even think about what it all might mean, just write it.
>>And write it all.
>>
>>This is what will happen.  Within about 60 minutes your brain WILL begin to
>>adapt itself to the regularities of the language.  In one day (supposing you
>>work about 8 hours that day), you will already have a good feel for the
>>syntax of the language.  In about 3 to 5 days, you'll gradually begin to
>>recognize stylistic regularities.
>>...
>>After a week you will be able to reproduce very complex novel (and valid)
>>written segments in that language, though you may not have a glimmer of what
>>it all means.
>>
>>At this point, you'll find yourself in a very unusual position of being able
>>to recognize a new written language, and even being able to write in that
>>language, without having the faintest idea of what you're saying.
>>
>
>All the way through I was looking for the smilies...
>
>>
>>Trust me, it's a very weird feeling, I've tried something very similar to
>>this experiment a countless number of times.
>techniques: for oral/written language, or for non-linguistic learning?

It's true.  When I studied jazz, I would often transcribe solos of various
artists.  As a guitar player I studied Wes Montgomery, and transcribed many
of his solos.  What made this different, however, is that I would listen to
the solo, and then write down the notes.  Maybe this is slightly different
that just copying the notes of his solo to another page?
>
>-- 
>                               | Hugh Grierson         | hugh@fivegl.co.nz 
>                               | 5GL International Ltd | PH:  +64.9.3021621
>                               | Auckland, New Zealand | FAX: +64.9.3021617