A Critical Examination of Searle's Chinese Room Thought Experiment
Journal of Education, Humanities and Social Sciences December 26, 2024 Zhuoya Tian
The authors argue that Searle's Chinese Room thought experiment, which claims computers cannot understand language, is challenged by functionalism and advances in AI. They contend that comprehension involves consciousness and external relations, not just symbol manipulation, and that functionalism offers an alternative view of machine intentionality. Developments in deep learning and natural language processing suggest machines can process information efficiently under certain conditions, changing understanding of machine comprehension. While acknowledging the experiment's limitations, the authors propose it has enduring impact on philosophy and AI, prompting reflection on human-machine relations and driving further research.