Path: utzoo!utgpu!utstat!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cornell!rochester!rutgers!att!homxb!genesis!hotlr!dave From: dave@hotlr.ATT ( C D Druitt hotlk) Newsgroups: comp.ai Subject: Re: Question on Chinese Room Argument Message-ID: <549@hotlr.ATT> Date: 10 Mar 89 22:47:01 GMT References: <4298@pt.cs.cmu.edu> <7431@polya.Stanford.EDU> <15469@cup.portal.com> Reply-To: dave@hotlr.UUCP (54246 - C D Druitt hotlk) Organization: Beach Bums Anonymous (unless someone needs a good worker) Lines: 45 In article <15469@cup.portal.com> dan-hankins@cup.portal.com (Daniel B Hankins) writes: > In article > harnad@elbereth.rutgers.edu (Stevan Harnad) writes: > > >In view of what you are prepared to believe about intergalactically > >distributed intelligence... > > Some authors have even said that they do not understand why their > characters do what they do, which seems to me remarkably close to what > Searle is saying when he says that he does not understand Chinese. > > the character they have created. Again, each participant has in mind a set > of rules or a program for that character's behavior, and executes that > program (i.e. manipulates the symbols) during the course of play. > > So the claim that a person executing a set of rules is then another > person is not as ridiculous as it seems on the face of things. > > > Dan Hankins Anybody tried Tim Leary's "Mind Mirrors" ? In order to play, you have to react to various scenarios as a character chosen and composed for you would react. In order to win, you have to focus your choice of reactions through Tim Leary's mind (e.g. understand his set of rules for character behaviour). This is similar to a musician's concept of "putting his finger through his guitar, out through the PA, into the audiences' mind" and saying something symbolically that can be understood even in Chinese. Point is, there are some things we all have in common. In some ways, we are all different. Experiences have something to do with shaping both aspects. If you can see how these terse generalizations apply to this newsgroup, there is hope for AI in general. If you want an extended explanation, just let me know. Dave Druitt (the NODES) (201) 949-5898 (w) (201) 571-4391 (h)