Searle's Chinese Room

Searle's Chinese Room is a thought experiment that questions whether a computer truly understands language. Imagine a person inside a room following instructions to respond to Chinese characters with others, without understanding Chinese themselves. To an outside observer, it might seem the person understands Chinese, but they are simply following rules. Searle argues that even if a computer can produce appropriate responses, it doesn't mean it genuinely understands or has consciousness—it's just manipulating symbols based on programming. This challenges the idea that computers can achieve true understanding or minds through processing information alone.