Minds and Machines

 

 

Assignment 4
 Due Tuesday, February 24th

This assignment is divided into two parts.  Part 1 is concerned with making sure that you get Searle’s argument right.  The answers should be extremely short. If you feel you have to go on at length, something is wrong.  Almost all of your paper should be devoted to Part 2.

 

Part 1.

a.     Does Searle argue that no machine could think? ('Yes' or `No' will suffice).

b.    In one sentence, what does Searle mean by ‘Strong AI’?

c.     In one sentence, what is the conclusion of Searle's argument?  That is, what does he take himself to have shown?

d.    In 4 sentences or less, summarize Searle's argument for the conclusion that you just described in c.

a.     In one sentence, does Searle's viewpoint dictate that only biological systems can think?

 

Part 2.

What objection to Searle do you think is the most powerful and what should Searle’s defense be?