Chinese Brain

8/8/2019 Chinese Brain

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_problem_of_consciousness

An outline of the Problem of Consciousness.

Contains references to source materialwell worth a visit.


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Cartesian View of the BrainSingle Homunculus [draw on board]Multiple unintelligent homunculi dividing the work


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Is the brain a computer?

yes / no,why / why not?

Think about why people think the brain is a computer?

How is the brain like a computer? What do brains and

computers have in common?


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The Chinese Room Thought Experiment

Put forward by John Searle

Supposed to show that the mind is more than a computer

It is supposed to show that the mind can do things a computer

cant doToday we will explore the thought experiment, then extend it to

further highlight the problem of Qualia


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The Chinese Room ArgumentA quick definition ofHandworking a Program

Handworking a computer program--means looking at computer

code and figuring out exactly what is going on. Useful for

debugging programs.

The code checker goes through the computer program line-by-

line to see exactly how the program works--what it does.

NEXT SLIDE


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The Chinese Room Argument

Imagine that the brain is a computer and you can get aprintout of its program.

What would such a program look like? Lots of instructions to cover all the different types of event that

happens to a person.

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Suppose you are given a printout of a Chinese persons brain.

Imagine that you are then put into a locked room, which is

full of paper and pens, and of course the computer program.

The program is a huge collection of books, which are full of

written instructions.

The pens and paper are for you to handwork the program.

NEXT SLIDE


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The Chinese Room Argument Now, suppose that the room has two holes, one for people to

drop in written questions (written in Chinese), and one for you

to send out written answers to the questions (in Chinese). People insert questions which are written in Chinese.

You dont understand the questions because you dont read

Chinese.

You carefully look at the Chinese symbols, and then refer to the

computer program--lists of instructions that tell you how to turn

the symbols into new symbols.

The new symbols can then be transformed into new Chinese

text by following the instructions in the books.

(Draw process on board)

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The Chinese Room Argument You send the new Chinese text out of the Answer slot. This

text is an answer to the original question that had been put intothe question slot.

To a Chinese speaker on the outside, the answer makes

sense.

The question is:

Since you hand worked the brains program and generated

the answers, do you now understand the questions and answers?


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Common sense suggests that you do NOT understand themeaning of the questions or the answers.

You dont even know they were questions and answers--it was

just symbols that you transformed by hand working the brains

program.The point here is that simply running a program is not enough to

UNDERSTAND, BELIEVE, orTHINK.

Searle concludes that the mind is more than a mere computer

program.

Now, lets extend the thought experiment


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The Dark Room Variation

Imagine the same scenario as above. The room is dark, you have

a lamp at your desk, which lights up your work area.

This time there are multiple input/output slots in the wall. You

dont know what any of them are for--you simply take the input,

work on it, and place output in the appropriate slot.

Imagine what it would be like to be in there.

You have no idea what the input data represents.

You do not know that the input is actually encoded sense data,

and the output you generate encodes for muscular movement,

including the issuing of spoken sentences.


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The Dark Room Variation

The question: in handworking this program, would you ever

know that the Chinese person was experiencing the sensation of

BLUENESS?

or experiencing the sensation of pain?

or hearing sound?

There is nothing in the program or encoded sense data that

resembles a conscious experience ofBLUE, therefore the

conscious experience ofBLUE cannot be explained by lookingat the brains program.


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The Chinese Room Argument Brainstorm does Searles Chinese Room Argument work?

What, if anything, is wrong with it?

How about the Dark Room Variation? Is that convincing?


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The Chinese Room ArgumentThe So What?objection

It doesnt matter that you dont understand the questions. If

someone asked the whole room do you understand Chinese?,

the answer that would pop-out would be yes.

MoreYou are just a part of the room--just a cog in the machine.

The understanding of Chinese comes from the entire room.

Its a bit like expecting an individual neuron in a brain tounderstand English.

But does this solve the problem of Qualia in the Dark Room

variation?


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The Chinese Cell PhonesPerhaps the brain is more like the country China.Each person in China communicates with other people with a

cell phone

Just like all the neurons in the brain communicating with each

other

No single person understands or knows about the large system ofwhich they are a part

They are all simple cogs in the machine

Is it possible that the entire population of China collectively form a

thinking brain?

Discuss


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The Chinese Cell PhonesWhat about the entire human population?

All interconnected by internet, phones, TV, radio, etc

Individual people dont have an awareness of the thoughts of the

collective brain. We just go about our business--all simple cogs in

the large machine.

Is the collective human world a brain?


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A strong physicalist would think that the Chinese Cellphone

situation would not give rise to a mind.

PHYSICALISM (Strong physicalism)

This is because physicalists believe that the mind can only arisein a brain. The organic/biological nature of the brain is essential

for the generation of a mind.

We need biological neurons!


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FUNCTIONALISM

The functionalist thinks that the Chinese Cellphone situation couldgive rise to a mind.For the functionalist, the system is not as important as the

functions it performs.

For example, if you have a collection of modules that perform

exactly the same functions as modules contained in the brain (e.g.

visual perception, speech recognition, rigid object mechanics etc)

then the collection of those modules would give rise to a mind.

We could, therefore, implement a mind in a range of different types

of system, perhaps by simulating the functions of the brains

modules.


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Powerpoint by BRENT SILBY

Produced at UPTChristchurch, New Zealand

www.unlimited.school.nz
http://www.unlimited.school.nz/http://www.unlimited.school.nz/

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Chinese Brain