"The Chinese Room" (thought experiment by John Searle)

"The Chinese Room" is a thought experiment created by philosopher John Searle to challenge the idea that a computer can truly understand or possess consciousness. Imagine a person who speaks only English sitting in a room with a set of Chinese symbols and a manual for manipulating them. When given Chinese inputs, they follow the manual to produce appropriate Chinese outputs without understanding the language. This illustrates that mere processing of information (like computers do) doesn’t equate to understanding. Searle argues this shows that a machine can simulate understanding without genuinely comprehending the meaning behind the words.