[ExI] The symbol grounding problem in strong AI

Gordon Swobe gts_2000 at yahoo.com
Wed Dec 30 14:42:52 UTC 2009


--- On Wed, 12/30/09, John Clark <jonkc at bellsouth.net> wrote:

> As I've said before a simulated flame is a perfectly real and objective 
> phenomenon, but care must be taken not to confuse levels. A simulated
> flame won't burn your computer but it will burn a simulated object. 
> A real flame won't burn the laws of chemistry but it will burn your 
> finger.

Computer simulations of flames do not actually burn anything, even simulated things, except that some real person chooses to imagine so. 

Similarly, computer simulations of people do not have understanding of words except that some real person chooses to suspend his grip on reality and imagine so. 

I'll answer a few more posts tonight or tomorrow if I find time but I can see from the reactions that I get here that my views on this subject amount to something akin to religious blasphemy. 

-gts




      



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