PHILOS 1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 27: Turing Test, Formal System, Computational Theory Of Mind
Document Summary
Why does searle think that a computer cannot think. Computer programs are formal (syntactic), human minds have mental contents (semantics) He argues that syntax by itself is neither constitutive of nor sufficient for semantics because we can imagine a formal system that can act as if it has semantics but in fact lacks any semantics. According to searle, computers or some non-brain organisms might be able to think only if they are conscious. If they can think, it is not by virtue of the fact that they are simulated by symbol manipulation. Searle thinks that the chinese argument shows why the meaning or fact that we are conscious of semantic properties of symbols is essential for thinking. Suppose that scientists have made an ai that can "mimic" most of human behavior. Should we call it weak ai or strong ai, why. Computationalism is not committed to the idea of the turing test.
