[ExI] The symbol grounding problem in strong AI

[Gordon Swobe]

--- On Fri, 1/8/10, Stathis Papaioannou <stathisp at gmail.com> wrote:

>> He will behave outwardly as if he understands words
>> but he will not "believe" anything. He will have weak AI.
> 
> The patient was not a zombie before the operation, since
> most of his brain was functioning normally, so why would he be a zombie
> after?

To believe something one must have an understanding of the meaning of the thing believed in, and I have assumed from the beginning of our experiment that the patient presents with no understanding of words, i.e., with complete receptive aphasia from a broken Wernicke's. I don't believe p-neurons will cure his aphasia subjectively, but I think his surgeon will eventually succeed in programming him to behave outwardly like one who understands words. 

After leaving the hospital, the patient might tell you he believes in Santa Claus, but he won't actually "believe" in it; that is, he won't have a conscious subjective understanding of the meaning of "Santa Claus". 

> Before the operation he sees that people don't understand
> him when he speaks, and that he doesn't understand them when they
> speak. He hears the sounds they make, but it seems like gibberish, making
> him frustrated. After the operation, whether he gets the
> p-neurons or the c-neurons, he speaks normally, he seems to understand
> things normally, and he believes that the operation is a success as he
> remembers his difficulties before and now sees that he doesn't have
> them.

Perhaps he no longer feels frustrated but still he has no idea what he's talking about!

> Perhaps you see the problem I am getting at and you are
> trying to get around it by saying that Cram would become a zombie. 

I have only this question unanswered in my mind: "How much more complete of a zombie does Cram become as a result of the surgeon's long and tedious process of reprogramming his brain to make him seem to function normally despite his inability to experience understanding? When the surgeon finally finishes with him such that he passes the Turing test, will the patient even know of his own existence?"

-gts