Syntax, Semantics, Physics
John Haugeland · 2002
Abstract In introducing his famous ‘Chinese Room’ thought-experiment, Searle articulates a methodological maxim, which he proposes to follow: ‘A way to test any theory of mind is to ask oneself what it would be like if one’s own mind actually worked on the principles that the theory says all minds work on’. Unfortunately, the question that Searle in fact goes on to ask is not this. Rather, he asks himself what it would be like if he were part of a mind that worked according to the principles that strong AI says all minds work on-in particular, what it would be like if he were the central processing unit (or the ‘interpreter’, as it is called in some systems). In other words, he imagines himself as a homunculus inside the complete AI system, self-consciously doing the work that the central processor (i.e. a part of the implementation or ‘hardware’) would normally do.