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From: bwk@mbunix.mitre.org (Barry W. Kort)
Newsgroups: comp.ai
Subject: Re: Chinese Room argument
Summary: Word substitution.
Keywords: Ciphers
Message-ID: <46116@linus.UUCP>
Date: 8 Mar 89 11:04:42 GMT
References: <2125@star.cs.vu.nl> <Mar.7.16.52.13.1989.1586@elbereth.rutgers.edu>
Sender: news@linus.UUCP
Reply-To: bwk@mbunix.mitre.org (Barry Kort)
Organization: The TaoLight Zone, Ste. Elsewhen
Lines: 20

In article <Mar.7.16.52.13.1989.1586@elbereth.rutgers.edu>
harnad@elbereth.rutgers.edu (Stevan Harnad) writes:

 > Could the meanings of some (or all) of the words in a natural language
 > be coherently swapped or permuted while leaving ALL behavior and
 > discourse unchanged? 

During WWI, American codebreakers gradually broke the Japanese code,
which used one symbol per word in the lexicon.  However, there was one
word that eluded definition.  It only appeared in one context:
Country A is "X" but country B is not "X".  The codebreakers decided
that "X" meant "friendly".  After the war, they obtained the
Japanese codebook and found that "X" meant "sincere".

If you read Michener's _The Source_, you will note his use of the
name "El Shaddai" for God.  It is instructive to substitute phrases
such as "common sense" or "the process of enlightenment" for "El
Shaddai".  The passages seem to parse just as well.

--Barry Kort