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What does the chinease room demostrates about computation?

User Edward Ji
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Final answer:

The Chinese Room experiment demonstrates the limitations of computational systems in terms of understanding and consciousness.

Step-by-step explanation:

The Chinese Room is a thought experiment that was proposed by philosopher John Searle to demonstrate the limitations of computational systems in terms of understanding and consciousness. In the Chinese Room experiment, a person who does not understand Chinese is placed inside a room and given a set of instructions in English for how to respond to Chinese questions. Even though the person inside the room is able to follow the instructions and produce suitable responses, they do not actually understand the meaning behind the questions or answers.

This experiment highlights the difference between syntax and semantics in computation. While a computational system may be able to process and manipulate symbols according to predetermined rules (syntax), it does not necessarily have an understanding of the meaning behind those symbols (semantics).

In terms of computation, the Chinese Room experiment demonstrates that mere symbol manipulation and syntactic processing is not sufficient for true understanding or consciousness. It suggests that there is more to cognition and intelligence than what can be achieved through computation alone.

User Gregavola
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