Can Computers Understand?

Title	Can Computers Understand?
# of Words	380
# of Pages (250 words per page double spaced)	1.52

Can Computers understand?

Can Computers understand?

        1) Thinking is the hallmark of understanding.
        2) Only special machines can think.
        3) If something can think it can understand.
        4) Only special machines that can think can understand.
        5) "Mental" states and their resulting actions are products of the
               center of activity (brain).
        6) To understand, thoughts must be produced by the brain.
        7) A computer's mental states and events are controlled by a program.
        8) The program is not a product of the computer.
        9) A computer does not produce "thoughts" in its brain.
        10) A computer cannot understand.

        John Searle addresses the point of the ability of Artificial
Intelligence (AI) to understand, in Mind Brains, and Programs.  His main
argument is that because AI's are computers and computers have no thoughts of
their own, they cannot understand.  Any actions being performed to simulate
behavior are confined by the programs available to the computer.  He presents
the example of a man linking Chinese characters and appearing to know the
language, but in reality the man is just following the instructions g...

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