Systems vs. Components: The Chinese Room and ROMs
Prior reading: Layers of Safety The Chinese Room Searle's argument: a person following rules to manipulate Chinese symbols doesn't understand Chinese, even if the system's outputs are indistinguishable from understanding. The component (person) lacks understanding; does the system have it? ROMs That Are Smarter Than Their Parts A read-only memory chip contains no intelligence. But a ROM storing a chess engine's entire game tree would play perfect chess. The system (ROM + lookup procedure) is "more intelligent" than its parts. ...