Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cs.utexas.edu!wuarchive!decwrl!shelby!csli!weyand
From: weyand@csli.Stanford.EDU (Chris Weyand)
Newsgroups: comp.ai
Subject: Re: more Chinese Room
Keywords: Chinese room, CR, Searle
Message-ID: <12263@csli.Stanford.EDU>
Date: 14 Feb 90 02:20:22 GMT
References: <1990Feb13.225830.13432@wam.umd.edu>
Sender: weyand@csli.Stanford.EDU (Chris Weyand)
Distribution: usa
Organization: Center for the Study of Language and Information, Stanford U.
Lines: 19

kohout@wam.umd.edu (Robert C. Kohout) writes:

[Good summation of Searle's ideas deleted]


>3) All Searle really shows is something that we all know already. No
>matter how grandiose our program, the bare metal of the digital computer
>as we currently know it will never itself become aware. Big deal. The
>Chinese Room might start a lot of great, go-nowhere discussions, but it
>proves, very, very little.

Wait a minute are you saying that Searle is showing that the computer as
a hardware architecture can not be aware or no computer + program can be aware?
Yes I would agree that we all know the former is true.  Just like a dead brain
can't be aware (as far as I know :->).  But if you mean that Searle has
shown the latter then I think he would have proven a lot!

Chris Weyand
weyand@csli.Stanford.Edu