Synopses & Reviews
The most famous challenge to computational cognitive science and artificial intelligence is the philosopher John Searle's "Chinese Room" argument. Searle argued that, although machines can be devised to respond to input with the same output as would a mind, machines--unlike minds--lack understanding of the symbols they process. 19 essays by leading scientists and philosophers assess, renew, and respond to this crucial challenge.
Synopsis
Includes bibliographical references (p. [393]-403) and index.
About the Author
John Preston is Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Reading.
Mark Bishop is Lecturer in Cybernetics at the University of Reading.
Table of Contents
Introduction,
John Preston1. Twenty-One Years in the Chinese Room, John R. Searle
2. Searle's Arguments Against Cognitive Science, Ned Block
3. Understanding, Orientations, and Objectivity, Terry Winograd
4. A Chinese Room that Understands, Herbert A. Simon, Stuart A. Eisenstadt
5. The Chinese Room from a Logical Point of View, B. Jack Copeland
6. Nixin' Goes to China, Larry Hauser
7. Real Robots and the Missing Thought-Experiment in the Chinese Room Dialectic, Selmer Bringsjord, Ron Noel
8. Wittgenstein's Anticipation of the Chinese Room, Diane Proudfoot
9. The Hinterlandof the Chinese Room, Jeff Coulter, Wes Sharrock
10. Searle's Misunderstandings of Functionalism and Strong AI, Georges Rey
11. Consciousness, Computation, and the Chinese Room, Roger Penrose
12. Neural Depictions of 'World' and 'Self': Bringing Computational Understanding to the Chinese Room, Igor Aleksander
13. Do Virtual Actions Avoid the Chinese Room?, John G. Taylor
14. Minds, Machines, and Searle 2: What's Right and Wrong about the Chinese Room Argument, Stevan Harnad
15. Alien Encounters, Kevin Warwick
16. Cyborgs in the Chinese Room: Boundaries Transgressed and Boundaries Blurred, Alison Adam
17. Changes in the Rules: Computers, Dynamical Systems, and Searle, Michael Wheeler
18. Dancing with Pixies: Strong Artificial Intelligence and Panpsychism, Mark Bishop
19. Syntax, Semantics, Physics, John Haugeland
A Short Bibliography on Searle's Arguments
Name index, Subject index