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Searle’s “Chinese Room” and Philosophical Zombies are straw men
Thought experiments like John Searle’s Chinese Room argument or arguments based on the Philosophical Zombie idea — see Wikipedia and elsewhere for details about those — are purported by some to demonstrate that computer algorithms cannot think the way people do, because unlike us, they cannot be truly conscious.
In this essay I will demonstrate that computer algorithms can be designed to think in many ways as we humans do and be conscious in many of the ways that we are. In doing so I will use an actual computer system as a thought experiment — not a far-fetched hypothetical one like the Chinese Room or Philosophical Zombie — but one that can be built, and likely soon will be: the RecipeExpert system described in some of my earlier articles on Medium. For details, see
https://medium.datadriveninvestor.com/components-of-a-recipe-expert-system-1f038fd0c79b
It’s important to understand about the implementation of a RecipeExpert system that its knowledge can and will be limited to well-defined areas. Those areas are (1) physical measurement systems (American, metric, and possibly older Imperial measurements), (2) equipment used for preparing food, (3) ingredients used in food, (4) techniques for using equipment and…
