Home > Terms > English, UK (UE) > Chinese room
Chinese room
A thought experiment developed by John Searle. It attempts to show that computers cannot 'understand' things in the same way that humans do, instead, they just carry out commands in a way that appears intelligent.
The experiment says that a person is put in a room containing a book in English that lists all the steps a computer undergoes to carry out a conversation in Chinese with a native speaker, as well as paper and other materials. The person receives Chinese characters through a hole in the door, and by following the instructions given in the book, eventually returns a reply in Chinese. Despite being able to reply (albeit slowly) in Chinese, the person inside the room cannot be said to actually understand any Chinese.
Searle argues that computers essentially follow this same pattern, mindlessly following an algorithm to give an answer, and so they too cannot be said to understand anything.
- Part of Speech: noun
- Synonym(s):
- Blossary:
- Industry/Domain: Computer
- Category: Computer science
- Company:
- Product:
- Acronym-Abbreviation:
Other Languages:
Member comments
Terms in the News
Featured Terms
fracking 2.0
Fracking 2.0 is a technology designed to extract natural gas from underwater deposits of methane hydrate, a frozen gas sometimes referred to as ...
Contributor
Featured blossaries
Marouane937
0
Terms
58
Blossaries
3
Followers
9 Most Expensive Streets In The World
Browers Terms By Category
- Fuel cell(402)
- Capacitors(290)
- Motors(278)
- Generators(192)
- Circuit breakers(147)
- Power supplies(77)
Electrical equipment(1403) Terms
- Gardening(1753)
- Outdoor decorations(23)
- Patio & lawn(6)
- Gardening devices(6)
- BBQ(1)
- Gardening supplies(1)
Garden(1790) Terms
- General astronomy(781)
- Astronaut(371)
- Planetary science(355)
- Moon(121)
- Comets(101)
- Mars(69)
Astronomy(1901) Terms
- General furniture(461)
- Oriental rugs(322)
- Bedding(69)
- Curtains(52)
- Carpets(40)
- Chinese antique furniture(36)
Home furnishings(1084) Terms
- Air conditioners(327)
- Water heaters(114)
- Washing machines & dryers(69)
- Vacuum cleaners(64)
- Coffee makers(41)
- Cooking appliances(5)