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John Searle

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The interior of ancient buildings in the Qin and Han dynasties of China
Image Credit: gui yong nian - Adobe Stock

John Searle (1932–2025): A Titan Passes

Searle’s most famous argument is undoubtedly the Chinese Room argument, first presented in his essay “Minds, Brains, and Programs” (1980). Read More ›
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empty classic red chinese room
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Farewell to John Searle, Philosopher of Mind and Language

His Chinese Room thought experiment, an argument for why computers can seem clever without having minds, was widely understood among the lay public. Read More ›
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Image credit: Witthawat - Adobe Stock.

How Understanding Points Beyond Physicalism

A computer science professor shows, using logic, how you must be more than mere matter. Read More ›
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Photo: A briar patch, by Phil Gayton from Totnes, UK, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons.

My Briar Patch: Notes of a Country Doctor 

It took me about twenty years after medical school to break free of the intellectual "comfort" afforded by the mechanistic consensus. Read More ›
Ray Kurzweil
Photo: Ray Kurzweil, by Nathan Jacobson.

Artificial General Intelligence: Machines vs. Organisms

It may seem that I’m picking too much on Ray Kurzweil. But he and I have been crossing paths for a long time. Read More ›
Descartes
René Descartes
Image: René Descartes, after Frans Hals, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

How to Overcome Scientism

Descartes is one of the founding fathers of Western science. And the conversion from medieval scholasticism to Cartesian dualism propelled science dramatically.  Read More ›
Chinese Han characters
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Photo: Chinese Han characters, by Michael Coghlan, via Flickr (cropped).

Passing the Turing Test Is No Guarantee of True AI

A person who speaks no Chinese whatsoever inhabits a room full of file cabinets full of questions and answers — all written in Chinese. Read More ›
Chinese Han characters
Gauger
Photo: Chinese Han characters, by Michael Coghlan, via Flickr (cropped).

Blind Ambition — Revisiting Searle’s Chinese Room

For the most part, computer scientists have tended to ignore Searle’s argument and the point of view that it represents. Read More ›
computer repair shop
Photo credit: Gerry Dincher, via Flickr (cropped).

How to Break ChatGPT

One problem it has consistently displayed, and which shows that it lacks understanding, is its difficulty dealing with self-reference.  Read More ›
Stephen Meyer
Photo: Stephen Meyer, by Nathan Jacobson.

Meyer: Every Worldview Must Have Its Prime Reality

What about the multiverse to explain the fine tuning of the laws and constants of physics? It is a solution of sorts, but it comes at a tremendous cost. Read More ›

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