Question

What is The Chinese Room thought experiment?

Answer 1

The Chinese Room thought experiment begins with a hypothetical premise, supposing that artificial intelligence research has succeeded in constructing a computer that behaves as if it understands Chinese and that it comfortably passes the Turing test. It convinces a human Chinese speaker that the program is itself a live Chinese speaker. The question posed here is whether the computer understands Chinese in reality or merely simulates the understanding of the language? The thought experiment is then extended to situation in which in an individual is in a closed room and has a book with an English version of the computer program, along with sufficient paper, pencils, erasers, and filing cabinets. The individual could receive Chinese characters through a slot in the door, process them according to the program's instructions, and produce Chinese characters as output. If the computer had passed the Turing test this way, the individual would do so as well. It now becomes apparent that computer systems lack the understanding of the language.