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Article 4600 of comp.ai.philosophy:
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>From: g89a2582@alpha.ru.ac.za (Gary Allemann)
Subject: Re: The Systems Reply I
Organization: Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa
Date: 19 Mar 92 07:03:45 GMT
Message-ID: <g89a2582.700988625@alpha.ru.ac.za>
References: <1992Mar6.185926.18497@oracorp.com> <1992Mar9.171606.6886@psych.toronto.edu>   <6374@skye.ed.ac.uk> <1992Mar11.201637.21875@psych.toronto.edu> <1992Mar14.010014.552@organpipe.uug.arizona.edu>
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In <1992Mar14.010014.552@organpipe.uug.arizona.edu> bill@NSMA.AriZonA.EdU (Bill Skaggs) writes:


>  I will argue that the symbols the Room manipulates are not
>meaningless.  Here goes:

>  To say that a symbol has meaning is to say that it represents.
>How does a symbol come to represent?  The Functionalist answer,
>which I subscribe to, is that a symbol represents if it has
>the *function* of representing.

[ definition deleted ]

>  Now to answer the original question:  The Chinese Room is created
>by humans for the purpose of passing the Turing test, so its symbols 
>have the *function* of representing what they are designed to
>represent.  That is, they have meaning.

The symbols used do have meaning - few people would argue with that. However,
this meaning is not inherent and is only understood outside the system by the
humans who created it. The symbols do NOT have any meaning inside the system.
--
***     Gary Allemann, Rhodes University, STANDARD DISCLAIMERS APPLY         ***
***                                                                          ***
*** There are three types of people in the world, those that can count and   ***
*** those that can't.                                                        ***


