The Annoying Chinese Room

Artificial Intelligence may not pay the bills for too many people in our field,  and it may not have worked its way into too many products, but I think it still holds a special place of fascination for programmers. For my generation at least, blame it on HAL.

If you actually work for a living, you may not be aware of one the biggest wet blankets at the AI party, John R. Searle. Back in 1980 Searle posed a thought experiment that has become known as the Chinese Room argument, in which many people feel he thoroughly disproved the notion that any computer program could acquire true intelligence.

The Chinese Room argument is taken very seriously in the academic world, and entire forests have been destroyed arguing about it.  To maintain your street cred among the intelligentsia, you need to bone up on Searle. You probably only need to dedicate 30 minutes of your life. There's just one problem: it will drive you nuts.



June 25, 2008
URL:http://www.drdobbs.com/architecture-and-design/the-annoying-chinese-room/228700919

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